Some Mexican Fiber Plants. 



31 



cylindrical part making such an operation simple, or the point 

 is thrust under a convenient root or other rigid object. The 

 fiber thus obtained is laid on a pile to one side, and is soon dried 

 in the sun. From fiiteen to twenty-five pounds constitutes a 

 day's labor for one man. 



The operation of cleaning the palma leaves is not so simple. 

 These must be steamed before the fiber can be profitably re- 

 moved. To this end large kettles are constructed of stone or 

 adobe, very frequently built into the side of a bank, thus saving 

 much in the cost or labor of construction; the kettles or cauldrons 

 are usually eight or ten feet in diameter, and over six feet in 

 depth and well lined with cement. In the bottom of the caul- 

 dron is a grating, usually of wood, and below this a secondary 

 kettle with a capacity cf fifteen or twenty gallons. Below this 

 kettle is the fire box into which are fed trunks of small trees, 

 brush and other rubbish. When the lower kettle has been filled 

 with water, the palma leaves are thrown into the upper recep- 

 tacle until it is nearly full. Over these leaves is thrown a blanket 

 layer of waste fiber and refuse which retains the steam. The 

 leaves are allowed to cock for several hours and are then removed 

 and stripped in the same manner as described for lechuguilla. 

 The lechuguilla fiber is injured by the steaming process but the 

 fiber of the palma seems not to be the worse for it. The palma 

 leaves, however, are so hard and strong as not to be susceptible 

 of the simple treatment given the leaves of lechuguilla. The 

 fibers of these plants, alter drying in the sun, are bound into 

 bundles six or eight inches in diameter, and when sufficient has 

 been gathered it is taken to the headquarters or office of the 

 hacienda, is weighed out and put into the storehouse, and later 

 bound into bales for shipment. 



Some of the fiber is utilized in domestic industries and is 

 manufactured into ropes, lariats, bags and matting. The 

 apparatus is very simple and easily manipulated. The fiber is 

 usually put through the following operation. At first as it 

 comes from the bales, or from the bundles as brought in from 

 the field, it is thoroughly separated by tossing a handful at a 

 time into the air and striking it upward with a stick until all 

 clinging and entangled masses are broken up and the heap of 

 separated fibers forms a mass of uniform density and quality. 

 About as much of the separated fiber as would fill an ordinary 



