The Republican journal., 1896-05-28

ing for 10 years, each plant yieldin g
averaging five feet in length, and produc-
ing between one and two ounces of fibre.
A bale of henequin fiber, 400 pounds, J
represents the product of 1000 leaves.
On the Honradez hacienda and others of
it's kind the old process of making the
ibre by hand is altogether discarded as
Improbable, and the stripping of the
leaves is done with great machines, built
in the United States and in England, and
driven by powerful steam engines of
American make. The machinery is not
at all complex, which is fortunate thing
| for Yucatan, for there are no skilled
mechanics to repair it should it get out
of order The scraper consists of large
wheel, having strong, blunt knives set all
around its rim. The henequin leaves are
pressed against this rim and by means of
a lever, worked by the hand and foot of
an Indian, the knives, drawn by the
swiftly revolving wheel, remove in an in
slant the pulp which covers the fibre and
lay it bare Considerable dexterity is re-
| quired for this work, and we look on
Indian who performs it. The pulp hav-
inc been removed the fibre is taken from
( the leaves in long strips, like a "hanl<'
OF very fine silk thread OF a beauti
green tint. 1t is made into small bundles
and placed i'll the sun to dry, care being
taken to turn it over frequently that all
the moisture and vegetable matter NAV
! be expelled; else it will ferment after
| bailng, and fermentation means a con-
siderable reduction in it's commercial
value.
Then we went into the packing
| house, where the dried hanks were being
| put up into 100 pound bales by cotton
press. 1t is then ready for market, and
| its average value on the spot is SO the
bale-but of course, like other commod-
tiles, it has its ups and downs in price
One scraper, requiring the labor of four
| liiCh " lSliNt II. VIII PlOUuCO dDOuL one
bale of fiber per day-providing the leaves
are fairly good sized and the workmen
not noyices. This would hardly pay in
the United States where labor is high ::
but in ucatan where a man is satisfied
to received 20 cents day and find him
self, il is pretty much all profit. At
any rate, though the Haciendadoes, OF
! plantation owners, all insist that there is
mo money in the business" they live in
princely style, maintaining fine establish
ments in Merida as well as on their coun-
Try estates with retinues of servants.
Their sons are educated in foreign col :
leges and their daughters by governesses
specially imported, while the planters
themselves spend a large portion of their
time in Europe. There are two OF three
small factories in Yucatan where coarse
cloth, ropes and twines are made from
the fibre They are all owned by Ameri-
cans or Englishmen and their machinery
| is mostly from the United States With
the exception of the oVerseer the engin-
cel and the machinist, all the employees
are ucatecans-g generally mestizO 0half
breeoD girls, who are as skillful as the
women of any other country in tending
the looms where cloth is woven The In
dians Use great deal of fibre in making
articles for their personal needs but so
conservative are they that nothing would
induce them to use a bit not separated
after the fashion of their fathers. If they
had their own way about it every ma
chine in the country would be destroyed
before to- morrow.
The representative of the great Irish
Rope Company, Mr.. W. H. Larmour of
Belfast, whom | have been interviewing.
says that in his opinion there is no natu-
raj product of Mexico and Central Amer
lea which will so we'll repay intelligent
industry as fibre plants, of which an mex
haustble supply is indigenous, while the
demand throughout the world is unfail-
ing. hatever wars, panics and monetary
depressions may interfere to the detrment
OF other industries, the nations of the earth
must be clothed and fed and the great
land products, wheat, corn and cotton.
must be transported. By the use of fibre
made articles such as sacking, twine and
cordage, these immense products are pre-
pared for transportation; and centuries of
| test and experiment have proved that
these articles are the best for the purpose
All this does not account for the vast
quantities of fibre used at sea, in the form
of ropes, hawsers and cables, and for
seines and other fishing purposes. Dur
ing the last decade the henequin and ixtle
exported from Mexico has increased ten
fold. Already it assumes the second
place on the export list, precious metals
coming first; but the day is not distant
when it will outrank all others, because
mines must sometimes be exhausted,
while natures bounties never fail Speak
ing of India jute, Mr.. Larmour says that
an ordinary grain sack of that material
weighs not less than three and one half