The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-03-23

two or three months exposed to thu
sun and the weather. Just before thu
rainy season, when they seem to b
dried up and decayed, they are car
ried to the cleared fields and planted
in rows. Formerly, they so plantei
the young plants that they were sep.
arated by spaces of barely 2 yards, bui
of late years it has been found besi
to space them so that they will be II
lines. each plant separated from the
one preceding it by a space OF Il
yards and the lines 4 yards apart
(about LOO plants to the acre.. Thus
long and wide lanes are formed be-
tween the rows that facilitate cutting
and carriage of the leaves, and also
lessen the wounding OF the leaves by
the spines and thorns OF their neigh
bors.
Previous to 1889 but little attempt
was made to grade the hemp. Yaxci,
sacci, short staple, long staple-all
fibre, well cleaned and baled. can COM
mand a notably better price than
mixed fibre, ill-cleaned and badly
baled.
Fire is its greatest enemy. Hot
seasons do not affect it. In fact, the
heat of the sun, especially when ac-
companied by dampness, seems to act
as a tonic 1t is then, if ever, that
the plant RECEIVERS from its injuries.
The greatest heat experienced in Yu-
catan for the last ten years was in
July, 1900, when the thermometer
reached 119 degrees F. in the half
been experienced in the sun on the
principal street of Merida. Long
droughts may delay it's development.
and by whiting the mature leaves
fibre, but it can not stop the ultimate
growth of the healthy plant, once it IS
we'll rooted. Rainy seasons do not
seriously affect the plants, except
those in stagnant water. This weak
ems the plant, but this condition is
not common. Cold seasons of the
kind that Yucatan experiences do not
affect the plant. The cold
est known period was in February,
1899, when the thermometer regis |
-ered AZ degrees r.
But fire conquers it. Let spark |
rom locomotive, the lighted end of
/ cigarette, or the embers of a fire
made to heat the bread of the native
workers start the flames in an ILL
leaned field, and nothing but a mira
lie can save the crop from total loss.
t is said that some planters in the
'ast have taken advantage of the sus-
eptibility OF the plant to artificial
eat; and when young plants were
esired for export, they were doctored
'efore delivery by having their roots
leated over heated embers or dipped
nto boiling water. The effects of this
reatment are not perceptible for a
ime, and possibly this fact may make
lear to some enthusiastic foreign
lanter why his scions, purchased
I'LL 81 AuoCA care anu cApcASSs A0fSI
rev and prospered. Naturally, the
Iexicans do not desire to have the
liant that is such valuable product
their country made common.
Next to fire, a large black beetle
J the greatest enemy of the cultivated
sal. This large, long-nosed insect,
nown to the natives as the max"
lay also attack the wild varieties, but
have not yet found evidence there
Z"
The output of Yutacan sisal for the
vo years, 1901 and 1902, was 564, SOS
ales, weighing s0,0o5.3 tons and Of
lie value of 13,53S.343 in American v
oney. There viii be a falling off in
lie supply for 1903, however, and that
espite the fact that prices are good Q
nd the demand for the fibre is in
easing. The cause of the shortage
i'll be that the Mexicans are not
anting new areas. There is a search
of labor in Yucatan, and the plant =
s do not like to stop cleaning fibre
ng enough to replant old fields and
ant new ones 1t is the usual Mex l.
an improvidence, which should be
lrt OF Hawaii's opportunity.