XII 
SISAL HEMP AND BLACK WATTLE 
IJ 3 
soil, and, most important of all, a good supply of local 
labour. An ideal spot would be three or four thousand 
acres of red soil, with little clearing required, sloping 
gradually down to a stream, with possibly a small 
waterfall thereon. This area would touch the line on 
one side and be bounded on the other with a native 
reserve. If I had to distinguish, I would suggest that 
labour is the most essential consideration, and a 
compact configuration of ground with gradual and 
easy slopes the second. 
In British East Africa, sisal poles sooner than in the 
Bahamas or Yucatan, from five to five and a half years 
being the accepted period. This fact, though at first 
the premature poles caused somewhat of a panic 
among planters, is in reality all to the good. The 
effect is that all the leaves must be cleared from the 
plants in two and a half to three years instead of in a 
longer period. Provided, therefore, that the leaves 
have arrived at a marketable length, which is in fact 
the case, it means economy in space, a great 
desideratum. The number of leaves number between 
200 and 220, which is an unusually good average ; 
indeed in German East Africa 160 is held to be 
more than respectable. 
The principal point that has worried sisal growers 
has been the best distance between each planted 
sucker or bulbil. The original idea was to plant 
sufficiently far apart to enable the crop to be renewed 
by the growth of suckers between the original rows. 
To attain this result 6 feet by 9 feet or an even 
greater interval was desirable. It was found, however, 
that the second or intermediate crop was short of fibre, 
owing presumably to the exhaustion of the ground. 
Nowadays, therefore, it is held desirable to plant as 
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