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tor, i e, a machine fitted with a number of blunt metal blades that scrape the leaf in a longitudinal direction and strip off the flesh, leaving the bare fibers exposed."
In Mr Barnes' machine the leaves are fed into the machine on a chain about 5 inches wide.  The metal blades strip the leaves on each side of the chain and then the central portion of 5 inches must be shifted so that it too can be stripped.  For this purpose there are two metal clamps ^[[insertion]] with teeth. [[/insertion]] which hold and shift the leaf.
"Either during or immediately after decortication the fibre must be washed to remove the gums and acid, and any green particles of vegetable matter that remain."  The acid is especially potent and the boys who work around the machine in bare feet have to take enforced vacations every once in a while as they develop very painful sores on their feet where the acid eats away the skin.  The acid is so

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strong that most of the lime in the cement around the machines has been eaten away, leaving the small stones and pebbles at least exposed and in some cases loose.
Most places when the fibre is dry it is brushed.  In Mr B's factory it is beaten while wet and then dried.  This removes the dust and dirt also giving the fibre a fine glossy appearance.  It is then put in the sun to dry.  After the fibre is dry it is graded and compressed into bales.  The price received is 4 3/16 cents a pound.  This is [[insertion]] about [[/insertion]] the best price received for sisal - the Java sisal is once in a while quoted a trifle higher, while the best Mexican is now only 3 cents.

IX-5-35
After reading "Entertaining the Islanders" by Struthers Burt, and coming across such words of wisdom as he imparts, I should get busy. I feel that what he