Fibres. 



494 



[DECEMBER, 1909. 



during the night and the water therein 

 has to suffice for the whole day, whilst 

 in other cases where the water supply 

 is plentiful there is quite a good stream 

 running through the factory and taking 

 away the waste. 



Cutting of Leaves. —The plant is ready 

 to commence cutting at the end of the 

 year when about 40-60 leaves can be cut, 

 leaving 15 or 16 on the plant. After- 

 wards the first cutting takes place 

 every 8 or 9 months when 20-25 leaves 

 are cut each time. 



The average number of leaves per 

 plant is 150-170, and the age of the plant 

 seven years. 



The knife generally used for cutting 

 the leaves is a fairly large Bushman's 

 friend, which must be kept sharp. 



One boy can cut from 1,000-1,500 leaves 

 a day. 



After cutting, the labourer trims off 

 the sharp point at the end of the leaf and 

 runs his knife down the two sides of the 

 leaf to trim off any spikes there may be, 

 and also to roughen the sharp edge of 

 the leaf so that they do not cut the hands 

 of the boys feeding the decorticator. 



The leaves are then bound into bun- 

 dles and carried to the nearest trolley 

 where they are loaded up and sent off 

 to the factory. 



The Factory. -It is a very difficult 

 matter to make any hard and fast rule 

 as to the design of a factory as every 

 planter has his own ideas and whims 

 on this subject, and in no two cases did 

 I see factories laid out in the same 

 way. I shall therefore merely give a 

 rough sketch shewing the plant of what 

 is said to be the best and most up-to- 

 date factory in German East Africa ; 

 this has only lately been completed, and 

 has to deal with a plantation of 1,675 

 acres of sisal. One steam engine of 75 

 N.H.P. worked the whole of this plant. 



Decorticators.— The three decorti- 

 cating machines chiefly used in German 

 East Africa are the Mola, the Finnigan- 

 Zabraski and the Neue Corona. The 

 main principle of all these machines is 

 the same, there are two scutching wheels 

 revolving opposite ways, and the leaves 

 being fed into the machine are machani- 

 cally held, whilst the first scutching wheel 

 cleans half the leaf, they are then auto- 

 matically passed on to the second wheel 

 which scutches the other half of the leaf. 



The Neue Corona is undoubtedly the 

 most popular decorticator in use in 

 German East Africa at the present day. 

 It will turn out 2\ tons of clean fibre 

 daily as against f ton by the Finnigan- 

 Zabraski and 2 tons by the Mola. The 



wear and tear on the latter of these is 

 very great and the fibre is often very 

 much damaged whilst being cleaned by 

 this machine. The main objection to 

 the Finnigan is the small amount of 

 fibre it is capable of turning out 

 per day. 



On all these machines trouble is 

 caused by the chemical action of the 

 chlorophyll on the iron and steel. 



There is also a machine called the 

 Raspador ; this consists of one scutching 

 wheel only and is hand fed. It is very 

 simple, but the loss of hands and arms 

 from being dragged into the machine 

 is very great. Ten of these machines 

 will decorticate about one ton per day, 

 but the amount of labour required for 

 these machines is too great to be eco- 

 nomical. 



The Process op Sisal Manufacture. 

 — After the sisal leaves reach the factory 

 they are handed into the machine 

 feeders either mechanically or by hand. 

 The feeders then arrange leaves on a 

 revolving belt which takes the leaves 

 into the decorticator, 



After the fibre has been decorticated 

 it is taken to tanks which should be 

 neai to the machine to be washed. 

 The waste from the leaves is either 

 carried away on the land or into a 

 river by a running stream, or if the 

 supply of water is insufficient, by hop- 

 pers on a tram line placed underneath 

 the decorticator so that the waste falls 

 into them. 



After the fibre has been washed it 

 is hung out on strings to be dried ; one 

 day's really good sunshine will do this. 



It is unwise to decorticate during the 

 rains as the fibre takes a long time to 

 dry and is liable to be packed damp ; 

 if it is packed damp the fibre blackens 

 and is useless. 



When the fibre is well dried it is 

 taken into the brushing room and 

 thoroughly brushed in high speed re- 

 volving brushing machines ; by this 

 means all the short strands of fibre are 

 brushed out, and they form a second 

 quantity of finished sisal which realises 

 about £12 or £13 per ton which is used 

 for stuffing chairs, etc. The sisal is 

 now ready for packing and is pressed 

 by a hydraulic press into a bale, it is 

 then weighed ; each bale weighs ap- 

 proximately 400 lbs. 



Percentage of Fibre.— On a well-kept 

 plantation as much as 4 % or more of 

 dry fibre is obtaiued, but on the average 

 plantation I visited, in practically every 

 case 3 % was given as the percentage 

 obtained; with this latter figure about 



