326 
Products  of  the  Century  Plants. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I        July,  1902. 
THE   PRODUCTION  OF  THE  FIBRE. 
The  sisal  plant  grows  wild  in  many  parts  of  Mexico  and  Central 
America,  being  hardy  and  able  to  thrive  in  many  places  where  the 
soil  is  too  poor  to  support  other  vegetation.  Because  of  its  com- 
mercial importance,  regularity  in  the  supply  of  the  fibre  is  necessary 
to  meet  the  demands  of  manufacturers;  hence  but  little  dependence 
is  placed  upon  the  wild  plants  as  a  source  of  supply.  Nearly  all  the 
sisal  used  is  grown  on  large  plantations  devoted  to  its  cultivation. 
The  young  plants  may  be  grown  from  seeds,  or  from  pole-plants, 
t.  e.,  young  plants  which  form  on  the  branches  of  the  flower-stalk 
and  drop  to  the  earth  and  take  root ;  but  the  method  of  propagation 
universally  adopted  is  to  transplant  the  suckers  or  shoots  which 
spring  up  about  the  mother  plant.  The  young  plants  are  set  out  in 
rows  from  6  to  10  feet  apart.  A  less  distance  between  the  rows 
would  render  the  plantation  almost  inaccessible  because  of  the  sharp 
spines  with  which  the  leaves  are  armed,  and  which  often  inflict  seri- 
ous wounds  on  the  laborers.  At  the  end  of  five  years  the  first  crop, 
consisting  of  eight  or  ten  leaves  from  each  plant,  is  harvested.  For 
about  twelve  to  fifteen  years  after  this  each  plant  yields  about  a 
dozen  leaves  per  year,  then  dies  and  is  replaced  by  a  young  plant. 
The  labor  is  performed  by  Mexican  Indians,  usually  under  the  direc- 
tion of  white  overseers.  The  leaves  are  cut  close  to  the  stalk  of  the 
plant,  with  a  curved  knife  fastened  in  the  end  of  a  handle  about  12 
inches  long. 
As  each  leaf  is  gathered  it  is  trimmed  along  both  edges  to  remove 
the  prickles,  and  the  stout  spine  at  the  tip  is  cut  away.  The  leaves, 
called  pencas,  are  then  made  up  into  bundles.  On  small  plantations 
these  bundles  are  removed  from  the  field  on  the  backs  of  men  or 
burros.  The  large  plantations  are  traversed  by  tramways  on  which 
flat  cars  drawn  by  burros  are  run  to  all  parts  of  the  fields  to  be 
loaded  with  bundles  of  leaves  to  be  taken  to  the  factory. 
On  a  small  scale  the  fibre  is  extracted  by  macerating  the  leaves 
in  water  to  soften  the  pulp,  which  may  then  be  easily  scratched  or 
combed  away.  In  the  factories  the  work  is  done  on  a  large  scale  by 
various  types  of  machinery,  all  of  which  first  crush  the  pulp  and  then 
scratch  or  comb  it  away  from  the  fibre.  After  the  fibre  is  extracted 
it  is  dried  in  the  open  air.  The  drying-yards  have  in  them  a  great 
number  of  posts  planted  in  the  ground,  with  pieces  nailed  near  the 
top  forming  crosses  on  which  the  fibre  is  looped ;  or  the  posts  are 
