HET MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
Year after year lie plods on, as his forefathers 
did before him, and when now and again a spas- 
modic attempt is made to regenerate him in mat- 
ters agricultural by bringing a new, and to him, 
fearful piece of machinery to his notice, the very 
novelty of the instrument startles him — we our- 
selves did not take to the locomotive till we had 
been educated up to it,— and because he looks 
askance at it, we reproach him with his conser- 
vatism. 
My observations have shown me that the 
Maltese farmer is specially open to reason in those 
things immediately affecting his material welfare: 
and I think that, were adequate inducements held 
out to him, and were he educated in modern ways 
and methods, he would not fail to rise to the 
occasion, and would show that the reproaches now 
levelled at him are as unreasonable as they are 
unjust. 
Another difficulty which has been advanced 
against the carrying out of the scheme is the impo- 
verished state of the islands 5 exchequer. Money is 
of course an essential; but as I shall presently 
show, the sum necessary is by no means a startling 
one, and I quite fail to see why, if the Bahamas 
with their poor resources, their people — a race 
which will in no way compare with the Maltese 
agriculturist for thrift and industry, — and their 
want of capital, could effect such results in so 
short a time, 1 quite fail, I say, to see why the 
Maltese people, by imitating the Bahamese me- 
thod, could not do the same. 
In the Bahamas energy andldetermination of pur- 
pose constituted the mainspring of the movement. 
Consul McLain U. S. A. in his report says: 
“The progress made in the development of sisal 
culture in the Bahamas during the past 12 months 
is marvellous. One year ago there was scarcely a 
dollar of foreign capital, and very little local, in- 
vested iii this business in the colony, while to-day 
parties from Great Britain, Canada and Newfound- 
land, representing large resources, are interested in 
sisal, having bought tens of thousands of acres of 
Government land and are industriously engaged 
in planting the same to the full measure of their 
ability to procure the material The unexam- 
pled succes of sisal industry in so brief a period 
in this colony is entirely attributable to the 
business-like, systematic manner in which it has 
i been managed by the present governor, Sir 
j Ambrose Shea, who has ail along taken a most 
| earnest interest in the matter. He is a man of 
large experience in affairs, and had practical 
knowledge of the proper way to manage industrial 
enterprises. IMom the start he realized that this 
industry would be the salvation of the Bahamas, 
and, setting his heart upon it, he pushed it for- 
ward with great energy and prudence, overcoming 
numerous difficulties, surmounting obstacles, en- 
couraging the faint-hearted, until now the people 
are touched with his own enthusiasm and the 
industry is fairly afloat. He visited England 
and by personal effort enlisted capitalists, and 
procured large investments. 55 
I have already shown that, in these islands, 
soil and climate are alike favourable for the 
establishment of the sisal, for they are in every 
! respect analogous to those that obtain in the 
1 Bahamas. 
But I have been asked — 
“Is it possible that the plant will thrive in such 
rocky arid regions as those which are found in the 
Malta plateaux. 5 Referring to the hardy nature of 
this plant, and to the soil and conditions that are 
best suited to it, Mr. W. C. Dennis, writing to the 
Commissioner of patents, stated that “arid rocky 
land is suited to the growth of the plant; and 
especially where there was a superabundance of 
| of lime, it was more fa vourable to sisal cultiva- 
j tion. 55 Tire italics are mine. And the Kew Bul- 
s letin says that the soil best fitted for, its culture 
j is of “a gravelly, stony, and in some places of a 
! rocky character, the plants thriving best yielding 
the largest amount of fibre in comparatively arid 
i districts, only a few feet above the level of the 
j sea. 55 
And Mr. Ranson, in his report to the IT. 8. 
I Agricultural department, notes that “land which 
is generally considered too poor in the constituents 
I necessary to plant life to make it worth while to 
attempt any cultivation upon it and that the 
! shelly, saline sands will be found to suit such 
plants as the agave (aloe), both chemically and 
j physically better than the rich black hummock 
land. 55 Mr. Preston, the special commissioner for 
the Bahamas, makes a very pertinent remark 
bearing on this. “In fact, any land that is shallow, 
1 impoverished, and that will grow nothing else, 
