88 
[ Eep. ISTo. 564.'] 
of the edges of the leaves of the Yashqui. Indeed, when very young, it 
greatly resembles our indigenous Petre, or Yucca gloriosa of the Southern 
States. The leaves will average three feet long, yet they are frequently 
five feet long, with a thorn at the point. I once took the exact dimensions 
■ of a leaf five feet long. At fifteen inches from the point it was four inches 
wide and one-eighth of an inch thick; at thirty inches it was five inches 
wide and two-eighths of an inch thick; at forty^five inches again only four 
•inches wide, but three-eighths of,an inch thick ; and at radical end merely 
three inches wide yet four-eighths of an inch thick. It will grow in any arid 
soil or situation and propagate itself without cultivation. When the young 
plaints are placed at six feet apart, the mature plants, after the second or 
third year, will produce, at the very least, 1,200 pounds of Sisal Hemp per 
acre. If it be the Sacqui, it wil] produce double that quantity. Two or 
three files of the lowest leaves may be cut two or three times.yearly from 
the same plant, at any season, for several years, and forever from the 
shoots which supply its place. From the letter of Don Santiago Mendez, 
Vice Governor of Yucatan, sufficient data can be obtained to calculate the 
profit of a plantation of Sisal Hemp. The paper of the Henequen Plant 
Company of Yucatan calculates the expense and profits of 36,000 plants 
as follows : Total expense at the end of three years ^4,541 ; total produce 
of the third year ^9,015; divisible gains ^4,479. 
Admitting, however, but 1,200 pounds of Sisal Hemp per acre. The In¬ 
dians of Yucatan scrape it out on shares, i. e. they cut and scrape the leaves 
in their rude way, and receive one-half of the fibres for their labor. It is 
to be inferred that in the United States the fibres could be separated as 
cheaply by labor-saving machinery or management. , Six hundred pounds 
of Sisal Hemp per acre would be the nett proceeds of the proprietor; and I 
venture to say that, at this rate, it will yield 100 per cent, more nett inte¬ 
rest on the capital and labor employed than is now yielded by sugar or 
cotton. 
OTHER FIBROUS-LEAVED PLASTTS OF THE PINE-APPLE TRIBE. 
Pita de Guataca. —This plant grows wild in the greatest abundance, 
in the vicinity of the village of Guataca, in the province of Carthagena, 
where its leaves attain a length of 9 to 12 feet, and a thickness of 3 to 4 
inches. These leaves are linearlanceolate with recurved spines along the 
margins. The fruit is a triangular one-celled capsule, with few seeds. 
The leaves exceed in length those of the Bromelia penguin, and of the 
Bromelia karatas, both common plants.in the West Indies; but in length 
-and strength of foliaceous fibres, the Pita de Guataca exeells both. It was 
introduced into Jamaica in 1831, with the view of propagating it in the 
dry sandy savannahs of that island, which are at present uncultivated and 
unproductive. This fibrous substitute for hemp is preferred to common 
hemp, on account of its superiority in lightness, strength and durability, 
especially under the influence of water or moisture. In point of ojfal, 
compared with common hemp, the advantage is enormous in favor of the' 
Pita hemp. It has been calculated that three tons of Pita, will make as 
much cordage, sail, or other cloth, as fifteen tons undressed hemp. In 1834 
the quantity of hemp and flax, from Russia into England alone, was es¬ 
timated at 25,000 tons ; and that by substituting Pita, at least 74,000 acres 
