VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 355 
at present little cultivated in Guatemala, except for 
home consumption. The pita , or silk-grass (Bromelia 
pita ) belongs to the pineapple family, and is very com¬ 
monly used for hedges in the interior of the country. 
The long sharp leaves are rotted, and the fibre ex¬ 
tracted by the rudest means, usually by pounding on 
stones in a running stream; but the product makes 
most durable and desirable hammocks and bags and 
cords. The other plant is most cultivated in Yucatan, 
whence the name Sisal hemp, from the shipping port. 
It is also called henequen (Agave ixtli ), and much re¬ 
sembles the century-plant. Common over the mountain- 
ranges, certainly to a height of eight thousand feet, it 
is little used, except for hedges. From Yucatan it is 
exported to the annual value of $500,000. The ixtli 
grows in poor dry soil and is easily propagated by 
cuttings. An American machine removes the pulp and 
cleans the fibre at the rate of a leaf a minute, and the 
product is then baled and shipped without further trouble. 
The fibre, according to the “ Textile Record,” costs the 
planter two thirds of a cent per pound, the freight to 
New York is three quarters of a cent, and with com¬ 
missions and incidental expenses, the total charge per 
pound is a cent and a half, and it sells for from five 
to seven cents per pound. In the English market Sisal 
hemp is quoted at £30 per ton. 
The species and varieties of the agaves or henequen 
and pulque plants are not clearly distinguished; but two 
types are tolerably distinct. Agave Americana , or maguey, 
is cultivated in Mexico for the juice which when fer¬ 
mented is called pulque. The plant after some years of 
growth in a stemless condition throws up a stem very 
