Manila is noted for its smoothness and pliability, which make it an ideal fiber for rope-making. Sisal, on the other hand, is without this flexibility, and is much more stiff and harsh. This accounts for the presence of the unpleasant “splinters” in a Sisal rope, and their appearance in so-called Manila rope is an indication of the use of Sisal as an adulterant. Sisal is also more easily injured by exposure to moisture and varying atmospheric conditions than Manila.
LOADING LEAVES ON CAR
While some of these qualities work against the use of Sisal in rope for general purposes where the question of durability is a factor, or even when softness and ease of handling are considered, this fiber is not without uses which it admirably serves. When a rope or yarn is wanted for tying purposes, where it is used as a band and then discarded, Sisal can be used to advantage, as it is of sufficient strength and can be spun with a fair degree of smoothness. It may be readily treated with tar, which is an advantage when the material upon which it is used is to be stored out of doors.
LEAVES READY FOR CLEANING
ELEVATOR TAKING LEAVES UP TO MACHINE
Sisal is largely used by this company for making Lathyarn and tie ropes of various kinds used for bundling laths, shingles, lumber, kindling wood, cooperage stock, hides, leather, nursery stock, for tying grain and cement sacks, for baling cloth in textile mills and for similar purposes almost innumerable.
But the greatest use we make of this fiber and the use which has done much to place Sisal in its high position in the fiber family, and has helped to make the Mexican state of Yucatan wealthy in a comparatively few years, is in the making of binder twine. The advent and development of the self-binding reaper have opened a veritable gold mine for the Mexican Sisal growers, and a large proportion of the more than 300,000,000 pounds of Sisal annually imported to this country eventually finds its way to the wheat fields, not only of our own great West, but of all the world’s grain-raising countries.
A fiber so largely used can hardly help being a factor in the markets, and some account of its production should be of interest. This story we shall tell briefly, and largely by the use of pictures. These illustrations, to which we draw particular attention, are from photographic negatives in our possession which were taken in Yucatan expressly for us.