M THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March 2, 1891. 
Next, the young suckers or shoots that may grow 
around the mother plant ought to be taken away early 
for planting other fields ; if not required they should 
still be cut off and thrown away ; if they remain they 
become hurtful, as they take in the nutriment which 
the mother plant requires and should have. 
In my opinion there would not be any necessity of 
resorting to the destruction of the plants, for if once 
started here the owners of plantations would find 
customers for the purchase of as many as their fields 
would be capable of turning out. 
The purchaser must not at that time forget to take 
the necessary precautions as are already advised and 
explained in subjecting the suckers to Nursery ireatvient 
it the field be not ready to receive them. 
There being wide space anything of low growth may 
be planted in the field up to harvesting which will 
not choke the plants. I must again advise my readers 
not to cultivate what will spring above the hemp, for 
that would keep hack the plants. 
Pole. — The sign of the termination of the existence 
of a Sisal Hemp plant is when it sends out a pole 
from the middle; this happins when the plant arrives 
to cutting age and the leaves are not cut, for not- 
withstanding its youth it dies, or in the other case 
where the tree attains old age, then it is natural. If 
this pole were allowed to grow it would reach a height 
of from 12 to 18 feet ; in the upper part it throws 
forth branches with flowers. When the pole begins to 
come out and gains a length of about 3 or 4 feet is the 
customary tune to cut it off close to the body of the 
tree without injuring the leaves, which will be matured 
and taken off before the plant dies altogether ; the 
practice of cutting the pole is to prevent it from 
flowering, as it is thought that its flowers are injurious 
to the young shoots at foot of mother plant. In the 
plant of quick growth the pole, immediately after it 
oomes out, begins to send out small suckers similar to 
those produced around the root, only very dimuuitive, 
but these are of no great value, and if planted would 
cause a degeneracy; producing none, or if any, very 
few shoots although they may grow well as plants. 
This chapter ought not to be closed without recording 
that apart from the shoots which grow around the 
root of the plant and those which the pole produces 
Sisal Hemp possesses another medium of reproduction, 
and this is in its seeds. These may be found in large 
quantities in the hanging capsules of the superior 
ramifications of the pole (when this is allowed to grow) 
and if they are gathered in a ripe state and dried 
maybe sown in the same manner as any other seed, 
and it is believed that small plants would be obtained 
equal to those which are got in the usual manner. I 
do not doubt the fruitfulness of the seed as, although 
1 have not personally experimented on it, old planters 
who are reliable authorities assured me that they have 
been sown and afterwards planted with good results. 
I mention this merely to show ihe different ways this 
hemp is produced, as industriouly speaking it would 
not be of great utility to have recourse to this mode 
of reproduction when nature has given a style more 
rapid and efficacious and consequently more adapted to 
the exigency of its growth. 
ClIAPTEIl VI. 
HAnVESTlNG OF THE LEAVES, TOOL USED FOR CUTTING, 
GAREIAGE FROM THE FIELD. 
AVenow arrive to a point which is lo show us when 
the leaves are fit for the machine to extract the fibre, 
a thing of great importance. For the harvesting of 
the leaves we must take into account first their length, 
tecoiid their ripeness. 
1st. 'J'he J.rixjlh. — The length of the leaf matters a 
good deal as fibre of this class (Hisal Hemp) is 
oijly admitted into the market and rendered saleable 
when it bus a Icngih of at, least three feet ; the leaf 
gem rally with good cultivation reaches the ]>roper 
length at Uie ago of three years and cn quick soil 
before this ; the leaf inert ases in length as the plant 
inoria-c» in years. I have seen fibre 4 feet 0 ipches 
long from hemp a few years old. 
The determined length therefore of the leaf as it 
stands on the tree should not be less than 3 feet, in 
Older that after trimming off its sharp point it may 
turn out Ihe fibre to the least desired length ; this is 
an invariable rule and of primary importance. I am 
certain the plant will attain this in Jamaica earlier 
than it does in Yucatan, thereby yielding its profits 
sooner. 
2nd. The Ripeness. — This consists in (A) its position 
on the tree, and (B) its color, chiefly the former. 
(A. ) Its Position on the Tree. — So scon as the leaf which 
at first g rew upright and afterwards inclined down- 
wards, getting longer during that time, reaches a 
horizontal from the trunk it may be coutideied ripe 
and be at once cut. After it moves from this position 
t .wards the earth it grows no longer but begins to 
shrivel and after its point touches the earth it decays. 
If allowed to reach this state and cut it will be found 
after extraction to contain a spotted fibre and less 
quantity than a ripe leaf ; the result of an unripe 
leaf would be similar in producing less fibre with the 
exception of not being spotted. 
(B.) The Color, — The natural color of the leaf is a 
light greeu, and this on the leaf maturing will change 
to a dark green which is easily perceptible and which 
on the leal reaching the ripe position, as already 
mentioned, wi 1 show up fully, confiiming at once with- 
out going any further the truth of the leaf’s ripeness. 
The above description of the length and ripeness of 
the leaf does not imply that it contained no fibre before 
this time, quite the opposite, it had all the time, and were 
a fibre cf short length marketable could have been start- 
ed upon twel\ e or fif een months after planting by, course 
cutting those leaves which are really ripe. From its 
infancy the leaves are continually falling down and 
dropping off, given place to the new ones which grow 
oat. 
The knife for cutting the leaves from the tree must 
be of a balf round form in the shape of a scythe or 
grass knife, but of less diameter, therefore smaller, 
with a short hollow handle to admit of a wooden one, 
of good length, necessary to reach to the trunk of 
the plant: and appreciated for its lightness; the 
knife deserves to be of good steel and kept sharp 
to give a clean cut and facilitate the cutter. 
To cut the leaf in the proper manner the cutter 
must put himself in such a posi'ion as to face the 
leaf from the side, the last or bottom leaf ought to be 
cut first so as to prevent any injury to the fibre from 
the knife slipping and cutting into the next leaf, which 
would be the case it the top ones were cut first. The 
knife must be started on the leaf from one side or 
edge and drawn across, and it will be found to come 
off freely and nicely. The greatest caution must be 
observed to cut the leaf as close as possible to the 
trunk of the tree ; neglecting this important duty will 
end in losses; first, the leaf not cut closely would lose 
a small quantity of fibie ; that arrives to a good 
deal in many thousands ; second, if the stump of the 
leaf where disunited be any length from the trunk it 
injures seriou.-ly the tree, spoils its vigor and makes 
its existence a short one. 
Immediately alter the leaf is cut and before taken 
away the prickles on both edges a'so the sharp point 
at the end must be trimmed off, which can be done 
with a small cutlass or large butcher knife, but so 
carefully as not to trespass on the limits of the valu- 
able leaf, barely taking them off. This operation is 
very necessary for the easy manipulation of ihe leaves 
in the field and at the machiue. The leaves must now 
be made up in bundles — bead and tail alternately — 
of 50 or 100, as the cultivator may think fit ; this 
is nece. sary to count easily and rapidly on receiving 
from cutters and delivering to of erators at the 
machine, all of whom are paid by the thousand ; the 
bundle of 50 is, 1 think, more suitable, being of less 
weight, and Ihe right one of about 751b. rendering 
it handy as well as giving case to Ihe cutteis, cartmen 
and others, more so the first of these who have to 
carry it from the rows where cut to the interval. 
A oray on good road carries 1,500 leaves at once to 
the works. Care must be taken to inspect He cutting 
or the cutter may, to suit himself, cut down green ai 
