12 
BULLETIN 1278, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
ordinary average conditions in Yucatan the first cutting is made 
six or seven years after the plants are set (fig. 5). 
There is also great variation in the length of time that plants will 
continue to produce leaves. One planter made the statement that 
" a plant may pole in 3 or 30 years after the first cutting of leaves, 
depending on the variety, the conditions, and the treatment." The 
usual cutting period is about 16 years, although cases are reported 
of plants that have been cut for 30 years (fig. 6). 
Both opinions and practice vary with respect to the number of 
cuttings made each } T ear. An old Indian custom in Yucatan was 
to cut two or three 
leaves from the 
plant each month. 
At present there are 
localities where only 
one cutting is made 
each year. Different 
planters recommend 
cutting at intervals 
of 3, 4, 6, and 9 
months. Two cut- 
tings per annum ap- 
pear to be the usual 
practice on most of 
the well - managed 
plantations. There 
is variation also in 
the number of leaves 
obtained from each 
plant, the annual 
vield ranging from 
18 to 36 fiber-pro- 
ducing leaves, 25 
being considered a 
fair average. 
It is important 
that the leaves be 
harvested when they 
are mature, as they 
will soon begin to 
deteriorate in qual- 
ity. It is equally important that overcutting be avoided. Where too 
many leaves are cut at one time the vitality of the plant is weakened. 
and the leaves subsequently produced will be inferior in quality. 
The best time of the year for leaf cutting is in September and Octo- 
ber or in February and March. 
Special efforts are made by the growers to plant in each field 
sucker plants of uniform size and to maintain a uniform develop- 
ment of the plants, but without systematic selection there will 
always be considerable difference in the size of the plants in any 
one field (fig. 7). In about six or seven } T ears after the plants are 
set many of them will have leaves that are ready for cutting, when 
other plants in the same field will not be ready. Before the first 
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Fig. 5. — Carrying bundles of henequen leaves from the field 
to the roadway. 
