382 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Nov., 1897. 
Sisal Hemp (Agave rigida). 
By THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR AGRICULTURE, QUEENSLAND. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Owrna to the good seasons that have recently prevailed, the low price of nearly 
all agricultural produce, and the fact that nearly all producers devote their 
whole time and energy to the production of a few crops, such as sugar, maize, 
potatoes, hay, and vegetables, while our consuming population is limited, 
there is a general spirit of inquiry at present in’ operation in our agricultural 
centres as to whether it is not possible to secure from the soil some crop likely 
to prove more remunerative than the above—but one for which the market is 
more general—and, consequently, a wider outlet for the produce when grown. 
Not only are our regular producers looking for a better market, but there 
are quite anumber of people settled on the land who took to farming when the 
area of land open to selection was very limited, and the nature of the soil of 
which was such that it would require an expenditure for fertilisers far in excess 
of the value of its produce. These people, then, who have been struggling all 
these years, keeping a few cows—which run on adjacent Crown lands—and 
make a few pounds of butter a week, are doubtless anxious to learn if there is 
any prospect of their ever being able to raise a crop of anything that will give 
them a chance of getting their heads above water or in anyway bettering their 
condition. 
Within an area of twenty-five miles of Brisbane, and in many other 
parts of the colony, there is a quantity of poor, sandy soil, that can only be 
made to yield a fair return after a large expenditure of money for various 
manures. It is to this class of country we wish specially to call attention, and 
to point out how a return may be got. : 
On such, land as this, there are two species of plants which may be 
profitably cultivated—viz., fibre plants and tanning plants. Among the latter 
the wattle occupies chief place. There are many people, however, who, though 
willing to enter upon the cultivation of the wattle, are deterred by the 
fmowledga that it takes from four to seven years before any returns can be 
secured. 
Among the fibre plants particular attention has lately been directed to one 
class—viz., the Agave rigida and its varieties—as admirably adapted to poor, 
sandy country, and from which remunerative returns can be secured. But it 
is just as well to state right here that it takes about three years to secure a 
return from this plant. x 
Those, therefore, who enter upon its cultivation must make other 
provision for maintenance during the period the Agave crop is maturing. 
Like many other tropical and sub-tropical products, until recently, it could 
not remuneratively be cultivated without the aid of cheap labour. But the 
improvements effected in the machinery for preparing the fibre have been of 
such a nature as to completely revolutionise the industry. 
The new fibre machines recently tried at the Bahamas are capable of 
cleaning 50,000 leaves of the Agave rigida, var. sisalana (Sisal Hemp), per day, 
the product in fibre being 3,000 Ib.; the old hand machines being only able to 
operate on 3,000 leaves producing 180 Ib. of fibre. 
In Yucatan the population is probably not more than 300,000 souls, and 
the value of their exports of sisal hemp alone exceeds in round numbers 
$10,000,000. Mauritius, again, went in for sisal hemp culture in 1882, and 
her exports in the seasons 1885-86 were 760 tons; in 1886-87, 1,586 tons; in 
1887-88, 2,060 tons; and in 1888-89, over 5,000 tons, thus showing that the 
