Aloes vert is native in tropical America, but it is widely distributed in the tropics of both hemi spheres. This and closely related species are the " maguey " of Porto Rico, the "molina" of Hawaii, the 'pita floja" of Costa Rica, the " fique" of Venezuela, and one of the plants called "cabulla" of Central America. In most of these countries its fiber is produced in small quantities for domestic use, but only in the islands of Mauritius and St. Helena is it systematically cultivated for the pro duction of fiber for export.
It requires for its best development a tropical climate with a moderate rainfall, and a soil of good fertility. Under favorable conditions it grows more rapidly than sisal, producing its first crop of leaves in the third year.
The leaves are crushed and the pulp scraped away by machines, but the fiber is afterward washed in soap and water, rinsed, dried, beaten and picked over, requiring a large amount of handling. The green leaves yield about 3 per cent of dry fiber, the yield per acre ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds.
Mauritius fiber is white, soft, more elastic than sisal, but also weaker. It is used either alone or mixed with sisal and other fibers in the cheaper grades of coarse twine and cordage of small diame ter. During the past five years Mauritius hemp has been quoted in the New York market at six to seven and seven-eighths cents per pound, usually one-fourth to one cent per pound less than sisal.
Ixtle. (Figs. 403, 404.) Ixtle (ext'-10 or istle (est'-le) and tampico are names applied to a group of hard fibers ten to thirty inches long, obtained from the cogollos (co-holcy5s) or inner immature leaves of several different kinds of agaves and yuccas, all growing without cultivation on the dry table-lands of northern-central Mexico. None of the ixtle-pro dncing plants has been cultivated for fiber produc tion, and they are rarely found even in botanical gardens or collections of economic plants.
Three kinds of ixtle are recognized by the trade. (In trade quotations the name is usually spelled istle, instead of the Mexican ixtle.) (1) Jaumave istle (How-mah'-ve), a nearly white fiber twenty to thirty inches long, resembling sisal but somewhat finer and more flexible, is used largely in the cheaper grades of twine and cordage and for ore sacks. This fiber is secured from Agave
lophantha in the Jaumave valley about sixty miles from Victoria, in Tamaulipas. (Fig. 403.) (2) Tula istle, shorter and coarser than Jaumave istle, also used for the cheaper grades of cordage, is espe cially adapted for the manufacture of brushes. This fiber is secured partly from Agave Lecheguilla (Fig. 404) in the states of San Luis Potosi, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Zacatecas. The plant is abundant in western Texas, but rarely utilized there. The leaves of Agave univittata, A. acrulescens and A. Kerchcevei, all growing in the dry highlands of the above-named states, are also used for the production of tula istle.
(3) Palma istle, a rather gummy, yellowish fiber, ten to thirty inches long, used chiefly in the manufacture of cordage, is obtained from several species of yuccas or " palmas," as these plants are called in Mexico, the principal ones being "palms sam andoca," Santuela carnerosana; "palms pita," Yucca Treculeana and Y. Treculeana, var. eanaliculata. All of these plants grow along the lower slopes of the mountains rising from the high table-lands of Mexico.
The ixtle fibers are cleaned chiefly by hand by drawing each leaf, first one end and then the other, repeatedly between a blunt knife and a block of wood. The palma leaves have to be steamed or given an alkaline bath before the pulp can be scraped away. Machines are beginning to be used for cleaning ixtle, but the results are not yet entirely satisfactory.
Ixtle fibers have been used in Mexico for textile purposes from prehistoric times, but until within the last decade they were used in this country only for shoe-brushes, clothes - brushes, scrubbing-brushes and the like. The high prices of sisal and abaca have made it neces sary to introduce cheaper fibers for low-priced cordage, and im proved cordage machinery has made it possibleto use ixtle fibers with good effect.
The fiber is strong and durable, but rather stiff and harsh. Sacks made of ixtle are said to endure ten years of constant use in handling ores in Mexican mines. In the past ten years the importations of ixtle fibers have increased from 6,000 tons to 15,000 tons, and the prices have risen from one and one-half and three cents to four and five and one-half cents per pound.