A report on the leaf fibers of the United States detailing results of recent investigations relating to Florida sisal hemp, the false sisal hemp plant of Florida, and other fiber-producing agaves; bowstring hemp, pineapple fiber, New Zealand flax, and bear-grass . tbe fine fibers of the back of a leaf. They should be 26 crushed and scraped while still green and fresh, so that the cleaning may be assistedby the juices of the leaves. Knives or scrapers and brushes in alternation aroundthe wheels are indispensable. It is also desirable to have a pump to furnish water*to two small tanks fixed abov
A report on the leaf fibers of the United States detailing results of recent investigations relating to Florida sisal hemp, the false sisal hemp plant of Florida, and other fiber-producing agaves; bowstring hemp, pineapple fiber, New Zealand flax, and bear-grass . tbe fine fibers of the back of a leaf. They should be 26 crushed and scraped while still green and fresh, so that the cleaning may be assistedby the juices of the leaves. Knives or scrapers and brushes in alternation aroundthe wheels are indispensable. It is also desirable to have a pump to furnish water*to two small tanks fixed above the upper belts of both wheels. The water flowsfrom these tanks to spread the leaves on the surface of the shoes and to clean andwash the fibers. Otherwise the fibers may be cleaned and washed after beingscraped if it is desirable to avoid the expense of the pump and tanks. With asingle man to put the leaves on the feeding chain and a boy to take away the cleanfiber from the end of the machine, it is capable of cleaning thoroughly 50,000 to60,000 leaves in a day. I have not seen this machine running on sisal hemp leaves, but wit-nessed its work on the leaves of bear-grass furnished by the Depart-ment, the cleaning being accomplished in a thorough Fig. 3.—The J. C. Todd fiber machine. As I have stated, the machine used by the Department in Florida isknown as the Van Buren, this individual piece of machinery havingbeen used by Mr. Van Buren at the various exhibitions which heattended. As far as relating to the quality of fiber turned out itswork is very satisfactoryrthough its capacity is limited. I am informedby Consul McLain at Nassau that the Yan Buren machine is exten-sively employed in the Bahamas for extracting sisal hemp, its capacitybeing about 150 to 200 pounds of dry fiber per day of ten hours. In Mr. Stuarts recent Yucatan report there is quite a chapter on thissubject, from which the following extracts have been made: There are several kinds of machinery
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