Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-04-18
FIVE MILLIONS WORTH OF FIBER.
New Industry I'm Florida That WIN Save
the United States This sum Yearly.

A New Industry In Florida That WIN save
the United States This sum Yearly.
ssTHE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY PAY
u 100000 each year for sisal hemp
noer grown in Yucatan, wherewith to make
eordage. binding twine, and 90 forth, ;" said a
government official 10 STAR reporter. 1t 10
great waste Of money, because the same ma
teriai can be produced just as well in southern
FLORIDA and Of better quality. Capitalists are
interesting themselves in the matter. and q
new industry Of extensive proportions is to be
developed on the peninsula"
Sisal, besides being one of the most admir-
able fbers in the world for the purposes men,
toned, is a most interesting plant i, is q
growth Of huge green bayonet-shsped leaves,
each one from four and half TO six feet in
length and varying from one and one-half
inches thick at the base TO half an inch thick at
the center. When il is from 81, to eight years
old and quite mature il sends up from its mid
die with great rapidity huge central stalk or
mast Twenty-Five feet high and three inches in
diameter from the upper half of this stalk
small branches grow out, each branch bearing
tulip-shaped blossoms. Presently the blossoms
wither, the petals drop Of and in their place
leaves appear. Within few DAYS where each
nower has been complete little sisal plant has
parent stem. When il is mature il drops upon
the ground, and, if it manages to come in con-
TACT with the mother earth. proceeds to take
root and become growth like its progenitor.
UNIQUE METHOD OF REPRODUCTION.
This is a method of reproduction found in no
other plant save the sisal and few of its near
relatives In the ordinary course Of nature
very few OF the young ones succeed in striking
root through the thick grass that covers the
ground; but as many as 1000 Of them may be
got and planted from a single stalk. as they
ripen from day to day. Tue sisal reproduces
Itself also from suckers thrown out by the
roots, thus having two distinct ways Of perpet-
uatlng Its species Many authorities consider
that the suckers produce the harder bushes
and that they are preferable on this account
ior cultivatlng purposes, but this is disputed.
Mr.. Charles Richards Dodge Of the Depart
ment of Agriculture has just returned from q
trip to Florida, the object of which was mainly
70 investigate the prospects for sisal hemp in
tnat state He found 1t growing wild in vari-
Gus places along the coast line Of the southern
half Of the peninsula, as well as on some of the
Keys. Here and there steps were being taken
to cultivate it and in places nurseries had
been established, one of which contained about
lVU'OOU young plants making ready to be sci
out as soon as they should be big enough. The
Florida variety was unquestionably superior to
the lucatan sisal. In tho northern part Of the
purposes, but it's cultivation for commercial
uses Will be necessarily restricted to the region
south OF the frost line. The little plants that
drop from the stalk branches are remarkably
tenacious of life, so that they may remain for
months out of the ground and still retain vital
lty. Some that Mr.. Dodge brought back &c
Washington with him had been kept for many
weeks III pasteboard box and now they are
growing beautifully in the green houses Of the
department.
MUCH BETTER THAN THE IMPORTED ARTICLE.
At present more than 80 per cent Of the sisal
hemp raised in Yucatan is imported into the
United States. In Florida the plant is already
present, of a better kind and il is SO readily
propagated that very few years would be re-
CURED Tor the establishment of plantations
sufflciently large and numerous to produce all
the material needed in this country and shut
the foreign article out of this market. Wha,
Is particularly required is a machine for OBJ
tanning the fiber from the leaves. At presen,
tnere Is nothing better for the purpose than
the crude continuance used in Yucatan and
called 'raspador." 1t is merely a revolving
drum with blunt knives on its periphery, which
scrape and remove the pulp from the Ions
bayonet-like leaves as the latter are passed into
the machine, thus releasing the beautiful paral.
lei n6ers, which have only to be dried and
oaied. One advantage of sisal is that il will
grow well upon the poorest and most rocky
soil, such as will not support anything else
worth cultivating. The flowers spoken of are
unpleasant to the smell when kept in a room for
while, somewhat resembling to the nostril.
the bouquet of a mouse in an advanced state Of
decomposition under the floor.