Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-06-28
THE CsEEULNEss OF HE tESrrRr PrAx

| nh l So l LNE>e Or 4hE AEN4Lh1 lLANI-
What III. bamboo Is 10 the Chinam2n, aud
| something mor5, the imssuey was 10 the sIcieni
| Aztec, and IS 10 his descendants TO the pFeSen.
day. Every day OF the year, evefy hour IL the
day, he comes in contact with il in some shspc.
In more than q hundred forms he has ut5iisai
it and made 1t contribute 10 mis- saStenance aud
comfort. 1t is the prime necessity OF his simple
life. Ii is bread, and drink, and ranent TO him:
he is born upon it, Graded in it, fed upon it,
clothed with it, dies upon it, and is buried in it,
No other plant which grows upon earth is put
to so great variety of uses; and he knows
them all.
On the table-land of Mexico one is never out
OF sight of it. 1t forms an impenetrable hedge
before which man and beast alike must turn
back; around every field, and in many whole
districts it is cultivated in vast fields hundreds
| of thousands of plants being seen in single
| plantatlon-ten acres of maguey to one of corn
and ten of corn to anything else being cultivated
over section of country larger than New En-
| gland.
| The maguey is propagated from suckers, of
| which each old plant throws off number every
year. 1t 1ouriShes on all SOILS but is said to do
| best upon rather poor, clayey lands or on hill
sides among old lava. II will grow thriftly
| where hardly anything else can be produced, is
not affected by the long drought of summer,
| and will withstand a heavy frost, and even
| degree of cold sufficient 10 form ice an inch in
| thickness, without injury. A more hardy plant
| or one more easily pIopagated or cultivated is
1
| rows about ten feet apart, and, for one or two
| seasons, maize or wheat may be grown upon the
same ground. After that, the land is used for
| grazing purposes, neither cattle nor sheep ever
| attacking the maguey, however hard pressed by
| hunger. The long, thick, lance-Shaped leaves
| of pale, bluishgreen color, each terminating
| in sharp, stiff spine, or thorn, come up from
the center Of the plant in solid cone, bleaching
| themselves one by one, and falling outward I'M
| til the whole plant has taken something the
| shane nj a nine tho noinrs NJ no
at the base standing out in circle from six to
| twelve feet in diameter, and the point of the
roll of leaves in the center being perhaps six or
eight feet in height. The MexicamS estimate
the cost of maguey plant in the field when ar
rived at MISUNDERSTANDING the cost of plant
ing and subsequent labor, interest and use of
land-at fifty cents, and its value for all pur-
poses at 50. 1t will be seen that a field con
tanning 100000 of these plants at maturity rep
| resents 100000, and there are many such in
the country. Until it reaches maturity it can
be applied to no use, and the plantation is
wholly unproductive Of revenue.
But then it yields its various products quickly
and is removed to make room for a sucker
which it has thrown off TO take its place and 90
through the same routine. After the summer
rams have ceased-say in October or November
the maguey, which has reached the proper
stage of Development, swells up in the center,
and, in place OF the upright roll OF leaves, a
| head like that oil a Flemish cabbage shows it
self. This head quickly takes the form of gi-
| gantic asparagus sprout six or twelve inches in
diameter, and shoots up into the air with aston
| shing rapidity-say at the rate OF six inches OF
| one foot per day-until the height OF fifteen TO
thirty feet is attained, when from three to IF
teen hundred or two thousand pale, greenish-
white blossoms are developed, and the maguey
has entered upon the last stage of its existence.
From that hour it fades and droops, and soon
withers and dies.
The great plantations, or hdciendas in the
states of Mexico, Hidalgo, MOrelos, Puebla, and
IlaXcala, are almost wholly devoted to pltlQue
production. The maguey plants are inspected
daily during the season, and when the head
has formed and the blossom-Stalk is about TO
put forth, the centre of the plant is cut out with
large, sharp knife, and reservoir capable of
holding couple of gallons or more formed
Into this reservoir the sap which would have
gone to form the giant blossom-stalk flows
freely, and every morning two men visit each
plant to gather it, One carries a pig-skin--taken
off whole-and the other a long calabash with
a small hole in each end. Thrusting one end
of this calabash down into the reservoir he ap-
plies his lips TO the other end, sucks away until
it is filed with the juice, when he covers the
upper opening with his thumb to keep the sap
from running out at the bottom, and transfers
the contents to the pig-skin. This process is re-
peated at plant after plant until the pg.skin is
filled. Then small quantity ofold, sour pulque,
to act as yeast, is added, and the open.
ing in the skin is tied up. The SKINS,
looking now like so many fresh-dressed
hogs carcasses, are exposed to the sun for a day
or two, and the pulQUe is then it for market 1t
is thin, miky-white huid, not unlike some
kinds of small beer in appearance, very nau-
seous TO the uneducated TASTE and highly intox.
icating, or rather supplying In its effects, when
drank by the quart or pailful, according to the
custom of the country. 1t is said TO be very
nourshing in its properties, and is recommend.
cd by resident physicians to cOnsumptlves, peo-
Pile with weak stomachs, mothers nursing their
infants, and Others requiring mild stimulant.
Thousands of plg-skins of this liquor are
brought into the city of Mexico daily on mems
backs, and a special railroad train, known as
the "Fulque Train," runs down to Aparn daily
coming back loaded with it. Puiquerids in
Mexico take the place of wine and beer shops
in Europe and the United States, and the liquor
being sold at about three cents per quart, is
consumed in almost unlimited quantities by the
common classes. 1t produces a mild, good-na.
tured drunk, more like the effect of opium than
like that of whisky, and in this respect is the di-
rect opposite of Dlescdi.-O0erldnd Monthly.