time about four or five leaves* These may be any length up 
* [ * 
to about eight feet, and the quickness of the cleaning 
depends very much upon the activity and aptness of the 
operators* 
Serving the machine* For regular working a man and two 
boys are required* The man and one boy attend to the feed¬ 
ing and the changing of the leaves, while the other boy 
takes out the cleaned fibre and hangs it up to dry. 
The trial* The machine was worked recently at intervals 
for about an hour. It readily cleaned Agave leaves of 
various sizes, some only half an inch thick and others 
between two and three inches thick* There is an arrange¬ 
ment of levers to allow for yielding in case of very thick 
leaves, and the machine was not clogged or stopped during 
any portion of the trial. This is an important considera¬ 
tion. The quality of the fibre produced was on the whole 
good. There was but little waste, and none of the strands 
was damaged or broken. The samples cleaned are now at Kew. 
* • 
Nothing has been done to them since they left the machine. 
Washing the fibre. Where there is an abundant supply of 
fresh water, an arrangement could be made whereby the fibre 
might be washed while passing under the beaters. This, 
however, is not an essential part of the cleaning. It may 
be 
