Sisal

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

si-sal', a material out of which ropes and binder-twines are made. Though called sisal grass and sisal hemp, it is neither a grass nor a hemp. It is the fiber of the long, heavy leaves of an agave, the Yucatan century plant . There are two closely related varieties. The world's supply is derived from the Central American region, chiefly from Yucatan. A small supply comes from Hawaii. In quality, sisal ranks next to manila. The United States cordage works consume (1905) $15,000,000 worth of the raw fiber annually. The name is Indian. Though a native of Yucatan, the sisal agave has been introduced into many parts of Mexico. Its cultivation has been attempted in the Bahamas, Florida, several of the West India islands, India, and the west coast of Africa. It is doing well in Hawaii. The Yucatan industry has grown to large proportions. Tramways are laid to convey the leaves from the fields. The leaves are from three to five feet long and as many inches in width. The first leaves are ready to be cut when the plant is five years old. Four men and a twenty-five horse power machine can clean the fiber from 150,000 leaves in a day. An acre yields from 500 to 1,000 pounds of fiber. Yucatan shipped 13,000,000 bales of sisal in 1902. The chief enemies of the sisal grower are wild fire and a black beetle. Sisal is heavier, but it is only about two-thirds as strong as manila. Sisal rope kinks so readily that it is not suitable for hoisting tackle. It rots in salt water; hence it is unfit for marine cordage. See Agave ; Manila ; Cordage