12 BULLETIN 930, U. S. DEPABTMEXT OE AGRICULTURE. 
cultivation of this crop was restricted to limited areas of land near 
the seacoast, as the leaves can not profitably be transported for long 
distances. It was clearly evident that the producers of retted maguey 
and sisal fibers could not hope to compete successfully with the pro- 
ducers of machine-cleaned sisal in other countries. If any further 
argument in favor of machine cleaning was necessary, it was fur- 
nished during the latter part of 1917, when American manufacturers 
decided to discontinue the use of salt-water retted fiber for binder 
twine. As the principal use of maguey had been for the manufacture 
of binder twine, the results of this action would have been disastrous 
to the maguey industry had there not been at the time an unusually 
strong demand for this fiber for other purposes and in countries 
other than the United States. There is no probability, however, that 
there will ever be. under normal industrial conditions, a steady 
demand for retted maguey and sisal fibers at prices that will make 
the production of these fibers a profitable industry. 
In 1917 no fiber-cleaning machines for maguey and sisal were in 
operation in the Philippines and no commercial agencies for such 
machines had been established in the Islands. The planters were 
not familiar with the work of machines of this character and did not 
know where or under what conditions machines could be obtained. 
One of the first lines of cooperative work undertaken was to 
demonstrate that maguey and sisal can be successfully and profitably 
cleaned in the Philippine Islands by the use of machinery. The 
Government has purchased, installed, and operated in the maguey- 
producing Provinces of the Philippines three modern fiber-cleaning 
machines. On account of the high cost of machinery and the lack 
of adequate transportation, this work has been conducted under un- 
usually difficult conditions. It has. however, produced definite and 
positive results. The maguey planters have been shown that the use 
of machines for cleaning maguey and sisal in the Philippine Islands 
is entirely practicable, and a commercial agency for handling fiber- 
cleaning machines has been established in Manila, through which the 
Philippine planters are now able to purchase machines on very lib- 
eral terms. 
On April 1. 1920. 18 modern fiber-cleaning machines were either 
in operation, were being installed, or had been ordered for use in 
the Philippine Islands. These 18 machines will have a total daily 
cleaning capacity of approximately 2,000,000 leaves. With an aver- 
age yield of 50 pounds of fiber per 1,000 leaves, which is ordinarily 
obtained with henequen and sisal, the total daily output from 2,000,- 
000 leaves would be 50 tons of fiber, or the total annual output, for 
300 working days, would be 15,000 tons of fiber, which is more than 
the present total production of maguey and sisal in the Philippine 
Islands. With the small maguey leaves that are now obtainable in 
