, 1890-04-19

Wednesday by Capt. Fl. P. Petersen amour.
ces that the $. s. Finance will leave
that port for New York on Sunday the
got b inst.
Since an article in a st. Thomas paper
called attention TO the "SiSal Hemp" we
have been asked by several Of our readers
what plant it is which yields this fibre (;
but we have not found 1t easy to arrive at
an answer to he questio Websteras Die
t|ionary, under "Sisal Hemp has, "the
prepared fibre of the Ag0Ue americana, or
American aloe, used for cordage; so called
from SiSal, "A port of Yucatan." This is, so
far interesting that it gives us the origin
of the name, but is probably wrong in re-
gard to the plant which yields the supply.
The AgdUe Americana is the common
Karitta of st. CroiX.
In a report on flores in the Annual Be-
port of the Public Gardens in jamaica for
1884 We find the fibre of the Agave Ameri-i
a referred to, but it is not mentioned as
being identical with Sisal Hemp. Under
the head of "Silk-9rass" i'll the same re-.
port we find "Silk-grass' FurCr9G Cuben7
sis leaves 5 TO 6 feet long; general.
ly armed, but sometimes quite free
from prickles. This plant is fairly common
in Jamaica and might be largely propagat-o.
ed at once. One of the plants doubtless
yielding the SiSal Hemp of commerce.
(FNrcrea gjgantea yields Mauritius Hemp)'
Mr.. Morris, who was Il member of the Com
mittee rendering the report, is probably
the author Of the above statements; but In
the sam report we find q London expert,
to whom the tibres were sent, writing OF
"Silk-grass," "phis is superior to SiSal
and would be worth about Ell q ton.
Hence we conclude that Sisal Hemp is not
obtained, or at any rate not usually OBJ.
tanned from FWror@H CubenSiS. The genus
Furcl9a or FoGrcrOya was named after g
French chemist Fourcroy. The plants very
much resemble the agaye, but the flower
poles instead of being rigid, as in the
agave are flexible towards the top and
bend over q little, while the flowers are
small aud dull in colour. There are large
numbers of the Fo0rcroyG glgGnteG growing
about Recovery Hill and several other
places, but the F0Nrcroy0 CubesSlS which
yields the silk.grass, is not found, so far as
we know, in st. Croix. g1
We remember some years ago reading
in IA Jamaica paper q letter from an agri-
culturist who had migrated from Jamai-
ca to one of the Central American States,
we think it was Honduras, and from there
wrote q description OF q great Industry
carried on in q certain fibre. The plant
from which the fibre was produced resem.
bled, he said, the Keratto of Jamaica, but
was not the same plant, as could be seen
by a close inspection. He recommended
the Introduction Of the plant into Jamaica
and promised to write q book describing
its cultivation and the method oil extract
ing the fibre; but we are not aware wheth-
er anything came of the proposal or the
promise. From the Report before men.
toned we learn the following about the
Keratto of jamaica. "Keratto fibre
(AgGve KerGtto). Salmdyck.- The com
mon Keratto or native Agave (Aloe) OF
the West Indies. Very abundant on
rocky hills in Jamaica, where in the months
of March and April it is very conspicuous
by its handsome spikes of orange yellow
flowers. Leaves 5 to 6 feet long, about l
foot broad, each weighing 10 to Is pounds;
the fibre is extracted with difficulty, owing
to the hardness of the substance of the
leaves and the caustic nature of the
juice. The latter yields o vegetable soap
which may be- used in salt water" After
reading of the abundance of this plant in
Jamaica we are surprised to find that
Professor Grisebach, i'll his Flora of the
British West Indies, describes only the
AgaUe americana, and adds in q note, es"no
other agaye is found in our collections.'s CT
Aga0e Keratto he only says in the same
note, that it is "doubtfup''. Baron Eggers,