The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-12
ADVERTISEMENT
THE HUMAN SIDE OF TWINE

ALL AiOH<AN oiDL VI IWINE
When we drive home from the Implement
dealer with our little load of Sisal Irvine for
the coming harvest. we do not often realize
that we are giving that Irvine its final lift on
the Journey of many thousands miles which
1t has taken months to make. Seldom do
we appreciate when we give ii its final
resting place in the binder box that the
hrst hands which touched it were those OF
a Maya boy or girl in far off tropical
Yucatan whose ancestors were a great
Civilized people. with temples and literature,
centuries before Columbus came ashore In
his red velvet suit.
Or. If 1t is Manila Irvine. the first step In
its long pilgrimage was under the guidance
OF a bare-footed, brown-skinned little
filippino savage. who perhaps never heard
OF a bnder,and whose views of agricultural
implements are pointed stone or q
crooked stick.
Yet, 1t II were not for the industry Of
these two widely separated nations. the
farmers OF this rich state would still be
obliged to bind their grain with old.
fashioned wire which never worked or with
Enthusiastically cotton strand. In fact, the
problem of Irvine was the problem of sue.
cessful binding for years after the SELF.
binder was an established fact.
It took many years and thousands OF
dollars to eliminate this primary drawback
to the early grain growers of the country.
One Manufacturer alone spent $l5. 900 trying
to make Irvine out of grass. $35 900 using
| paper as substitute. and $43, 600 on straw
| all in the end to be discarded as unsatis.
factory. Then. after searching the world
| with close tooth rake, as it were, It was
found that two fibres could be made to do
the work-Manila and Sisal. The Manila
long. soft and even-had generally been
used In multiple strands for making cable
/ and cordage: while the Sisal-strong, pliable
and smooth-was found to lend itselfp perfect.
/ ly for the manufacture of a single-strand
cord. such as the self-binder necessitated.
Then commenced a merry struggle be.
tween the distant races for the honor Of
| supplying the Irvine which was to make
His Majesty. the American farmer. the
| greatest food producer in the world. At
| first. owing to the established position of
the Manila hemp trade caused by the
cordage industry. the little brown brother
made no progress in his methods of pro.
duction. using the knife and block and
other simple methods followed by his
primitive forefathers in extracting the fibre.
Ii was soon seen that Sisal would either be
the ultimate material to supply this demand
or the demand would not be filed. AT this
point OF the race number of clever.
aggressive Yucatecans. educated in the
sciences in this country and abroad, sprang
into the game. They saw the future COM
mercial possibilities of the neglected Sisal
plant At their own expense they built
railroads into the arid. dry territories
where henequen grew. They invented
new machines, capable of cleaning 100000
leaves day. and soon began 10 compete
on an equal basis with the Manila fibre.
The Spanish.American war temporarily
advanced the price of Manila fibre to such
an extent that good grades of Manila fibre
commanded price which was practically
prohibitive for binder Irvine. Therefore.
manufacturers OF binder Irvine concentrated
their energy and genius in the production
of perfect binder Irvine from Ssal This
required some adjustment of machinery
and some change In methods. but manu-
facturers OF Irvine succeeded so that the
Irvine made from Sisal has for some years
been as perfect and satisfactory as any
binder Irvine ever made from any material
This has resulted in the increased use Of
Ssal. until during the past season not less
Of the material which went into the manu-
was Sisal fibre.
First-class binder Irvine can be made
from high-grade Manila fibre. but It Is very
difficult to make even reasonably good
article of binder Irvine from low-grade
Manila. Before the American occupation
of the Philippine Islands. the Spanish
officials at times exerted their arbitrary
power for the purpose of maintaining the
quality of the fibre which was produced BY
the natives. 1t was not an uncommon thing
for the governor of q district to seize
quantity Of inferior fibre and publicly burn
il in the middle of the plaza. This was an
object lesson to the natives to produce
better grades of fibre. However. since the