Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-05-16
George Miner Tells of Famous
Mexican Hemp for Which
United States Pays Twenty
Five Millions a Year
BY GEORGE MINER,
who Went to Yucatan for the Express
Purpose OF Studying the Subject.

i BY GEORGE MINER,
who Went to Yucatan for the Express
j Purpose OF Studying the Subject.
i Copyright, 1916, by the Mcclure News
i paper Syndicate)
Hundreds and hundreds of square
miles Of the rolling plains of Yucatan
are covered by the long rows OF the
4 picturesque henequen plant. 1t is the
one great crop of the country and it
is has brought vast fortunes to Yucca
tan.
More than that, it will keep right on
bringing great wealth to that fortunate
country for the United States must
have henequen and the Yucatan crop
never fails, and nowhere else in the
world is henequen grown so satlsfac-
torily.
The henequen leaf is a mass of long,
| stringlike fibers These fbers, when
dried, are known as hemp and from
hemp are made rope and the vast guam
titles of binder Irvine now absolutely
essential to the harvesting of our grain
crops. To harvest our wheat crop we
are dependent on Yucatan henequen, and
Yucatan is dependent on henequen for
its financial we'll being. It's very
close commercial alliance Back or this
necessity and its possibilities for com
mercial exploitation is an entangled
story. For some weeks past the United
States congress has been carrying on an
investigation into the operations of this
industry, so far as it concerns American
Interests
INJURED IN POCKET AND PRIDE.
For many years two American con-
Germs had a monopoly of Yucatan's hene-
quen crop. Then a Mexican govern
mental commission took that monopoly
away and proceeded to regulate and
control the marketing Of the henequen
crop itself. The American concerns
were hurt in pocket and pride Tor 1t
had been a very profitable business, and
they did not like being put out of 1t a
little bit. So now they accuse the Next
lean commission of being trust and as
the commission has offices in the United
States and does most of its business
There, a congressional investigation was
demanded and accorded. The gtst or
the whole matter is that the old monopo-
lists are sore and are trying to upset
the work Of the commission for putting
them out of a good thing.
They want to get back and monopo-
Ilize some more They claim right to
the monopoly because they had it for
la number of years. The commission begs
to differ and points out the fact that
the monopolsts were driven out and
lmiddlemen eliminated because the hene-
louen farmers and laborers were not be-
ing fairly treated or getting what they
were entitled to.
There Is a popular impression outside
of Mexico that Yucatan is an arid state
where nothing grows but cactus and
agave, whereas the contrary is true. The
state of Yucatan is only part of the
peninsula Of that name, but 1t now takes
in also the territory of Quintana Roo,
which has recently been added to 1T.
Quintana Roo is wonderfully rich in
hard woods, chicle plant. sugar cane'
and an infinite variety of flowers, fruits
and plants of great commercial, chem
ical, and industrial value. Yucatan is
chiefly known through the cultivation or
the agave plant, which produces the val
liable henequen fiber. Nature, through
centuries of selection, has made hene-
ouen an ideal plant: impervous to
storms, droughts, to grasshoppers ana
other destructive insects.
We are looking forward to the end
We had two testss last week which wer
WHERE IT'S ALWAYS HARVEST
TIME.
This remarkable plant needs practi-
cally no cultivation, no irrigation. The
only attention il needs is to have the
weeds cut down between the plants
; about once a year. Fields can go two
years without being touched and still
not suffer much damage.
In gathering the crop the plant is
equally accommodating. You can cunt
your own convenience as to harvesting
! 1t is not necessary to do it at any par
ticular time of the year. The cutting
can all be done in one month or the
work strung out over the entire twelve.
In other words, it is always harvest
J time For that matter, no leaves need
be cut for two years and still not DAM
age the plant airy. You will only have
twice as big crop to gather when you
do cut
This makes the labor problem very
} simple 1t gives the laborers steady
} employment all the year around, or on
} the other hand if the planter is short
Of labor his crop does not suffer by not
! being harvested.
| The plants are propagated from suck
ers growing out of the roots. These
are set out close together in field used
as nursery. When they are year or
so old and foot or two high they are
transplanted to the big fields and plac-
ed in rows about fifteen feet apart in all
directions. They are big fields, too,
some Of them four and five miles square.
Then 1t takes four or five years for the
plant to get big enough to begin cutting
from. When that time arrives the farm
er has his innings, for the plant keeps
right on growing and bearing leaves for
from twenty to thirty years.
There is where the profit comes in and
the beauty of henequen farming. 1t is
only necessary to plant a crop once In
twenty years to insure getting a good
crop every year. There is no other
crop in the world that yields such gen
erous returns. NoJwonder SO many vast
fortunes have been made by the land
proprietors of Yucatan.
The Yucatans call the henequen the
noblest plant on the continent. They
have good reason to.
In addition to it's rich financial re-
turns, henequen raising has another at
traction-it's about the prettiest and
neatest and cleanest farming 1 know of
The labor is all outdoor work in clear
air and bright sunshine. The laborers
who are nearly all native Maya Indians
are a peaceful and Industrious race