SISAL AND MANILLA FIBER. Among the new fiber plants lately growing in importance in the United States, Sisal and Manilla may be mentioned. The history and/ uses and statistics thereof, as stated by Mr. A. M. Earle, of Akron, Ohio, are worthy of record, as we find it stated, in 1877, in the Fri•m, Field and &or/man, and of which we give an account of its use in agricul ture, especially for binder twine.. Agave Sisal ana, or Sisal hemp, is the agave or aloe plant, a genus of the cactus family. It derives its name " Sisal " from the port of Sisal, where it was formerly exported from. It is a native of Yuc - atan, a State of the Mexican Confederation. There are several varieties of the agave plant, all deriving their name from the country which produces them, as Agave Americana, Agave Mexicana, Agave Yucatana. The agave has only been grown successfully, as a fiber plant, n the State of Yucatan, the worn-out soil of which is peculiarly adapted to it. The plant is best prcoagated by cuttings, the young plants being alloWed to grow at will until three years old, after which they are transplanted into regu lar rows in fields. They require but little culti vation and are of rather slow growth, taking about eight years to mature into plants to bear the cutting, after which time, if moderate eare be exercised, they will last for many years. In arid soils and upon the uplands the leaves clus ter around the stalk, which reaches but a few inches, often not more than a foot or so, above the ground, with the broad leaves six or eight inches wide, coarse and very thick. On the lowlands the leaves are much narrower, much longer and produce better and finer fiber, from three to six inches long. If they are allowed to remain on the stalk they continue to grow and increase in length during the entire life of the plant. Hemp that is grown upon the lowlands is much the best. The hemp, until 1862, was cleaned by a very primitive method, as pound ing the leaves between stones, and whipping them to cleanse them of the outer coat. It is' now cleansed by passing it over a toothed wheel of large diameter and driven by steam. The long, pulpy leaf is thrust in toward the wheel ; the teeth seize it, and in a second a mass of fiber is left hanging to the butt of the leaf, still held in the hands of the operator. A simi lar process converts the whole into a bunch of fiber, which it does without loss of very much good material. The increasing attention paid to the agave as a fiber plant has opened a field and caused a demand for new machines; and de vices to be used in its preparation for the market. After the hemp is cleaned it is tied into small banks and these hanks are then pressed into bales weighing from 35& to 500 pounds, bound with ropes, the special mark of the shipper or grower on them, and the hales are then shipped to New York, Boston and other sea board points. Over six-sevenths of all Sisal hemp exported from Zueatan goes to the vari ous parts of the United States, New York lead ing the, past year with over 209,095 bales. The following figures are believed to be accurate: In 1860 there were imported and used in the States, 1,393 bales of Sisal hemp, weighing 445, 760 pounds ; in 1870, '19,893 bales, weighing 6,962,550 pounds ; in 1880, 80,252 bales, weigh ing 25,910,094 pounds; from January 1st. 1860,
to January 1st, 1884, 359,945,750 pounds ; from January 1st, 1884, to January let, 1887, 485,586 bales, weighing 139,38,7,520 pounds. Total amount, from date of first shipment of Sisal hemp to this country (in any quantity), January 1st, 1860, to January 1st, 1887, 599,333,270 pounds, exceeding that of Manilla the past year by 37,863,290 pounds. During the past six years as much Sisal hemp was used as had been imported in the twenty years previous. Manila hemp (fiber), of the Musa genus, endogenous plants indigenous to Asia, and including the banana and plantain. . It very much resembles the banana and derives its name from the port of Manilla, where it is now mostly and formerly was exported from. It is a native of Suzon, the largest of the Phillipine Islands, a group lying in the tropics, north of Australia, and east and south of Asia. It grows readily from seeds and also from shoots or suckers. When cut down it easily sprouts from the same root, and can be grown in any tropical country, often reaching the height of twenty or twenty-five feet, having a tuft of leaves only at the top. After the hemp is dried and cleaned it is tied in hanks and put in bales weighing 270 pounds, covered with grass matting, bound tightly with rattan, and shipped to England, France and the United States, the voyage taking about four months. The following figures are believed to be correct: In 1843 there was imported and used in the United States 27,820 bales, weighing 7,511,400 pounds ; in 1860, 143,618 bales, weighing 38, 786,860 pounds ; in 1870, 133,338 bales, weigh ing 36,001,260 pounds ; in 1880, 44,570,367 pounds. From January 1st, 1843, to January 1st, 1884, the amount aggregated 1,846,589,74-5 pounds, together with the amount pounds, imported in the years 1885 and 1886, gives a total number of pounds imported and used in the United States from January 1st, 1843, to January 1st, 1887, as 1,446,998,615 pounds. Entire total amount of Sisal and Ma nilla hemp received into the United States, for the past forty-three years, 1,946,331,885 pounds. The above figures do not include Canada or the quantity of Sisal hemp exported to England. There is at this time capacity enough in the United (to say nothing of Canada and its provinces) to manufacture three or four times more cordage and binder twine of the above material, than there is demand for. The conse quence is the market is overstocked, competition strong and prices low, which increases the ten-c dency of some manufacturers to make an infe rior article. The above figures will show the immense amount of Manilla and Sisal hemp which has been used in this 'country since 1843, to what extent the material is required, and how much we are dependent upon these two produc tions of tropical countries. The annual product of cordage manufactured in the United States is estimated at 120,000,000 pounds. Of this quantity, 7 per cent, is exported to foreign countries, and of the remainder, one-half, or about 27,000 tons, consists of binder twine, and the amount now used for that purpose alone is equal in quantity to the whole amount of cord age annually manufactured in this country previous to the year 1887. (See also Fiber.)