PRODUCTION OF HENEQUEN FIBER 
13 
cutting of leaves is made, an expert cutter is sent through the field 
to mark all plants from which leaves are to be taken. 
The leaf is cut off close to the trunk, from the upper surface down- 
ward, with a short sharp knife. The terminal spine is removed 
at the time the leaf is cut, and subsequently the marginal prickles are 
trimmed off. One man working alone will cut and trim from 1,500 
to 2,500 leaves in a day. Working with members of his family, 
who do the trimming, one workman will cut from 6,000 to 7,000 
leaves daily. This work is usually done by contract, the price 
paid for cutting being about 60 centavos (30 cents) for each thousand 
leaves. Ordinarily the leaves are tied in bundles of 50 before they 
are transported from the fields to the mill. Bundles of 40 are used 
where the leaves are exceptionally large. 
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Fig. 6. — A field of old henequen plants 
HENEQUEN FIBER 
CLEANING THE FIBER 
On all of the larger henequen plantations in Yucatan the leaves 
are transported from the fields to the mill by means of plantation 
railways (fig. 8) . The leaves are usually cleaned the day after 
they are cut, though sometimes two or three days may elapse be- 
tween cutting and cleaning. It is stated that the leaves do not begin 
to deteriorate for a period of about three days after cutting. 
When the leaves arrive at the mill the bundles are placed on 
carriers, which deposit them on the feeding table at the rear of the 
cleaning machine. There are usually three men working at the 
feeding table, one of whom opens the bundles, one arranges the 
leaves on the table, and one feeds the leaves into the machine. No 
effort is made to sort the leaves according to size, though on some 
of the plantations the damaged leaves are thrown out at the feeding 
table. 
The machines used for cleaning the fiber are different types of 
the " Prieto " and the " Pascal " with an occasional " Mola." The 
capacity of these different machines varies from 10,000 to 20,000 
