Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-20
A USEFUL PLANT OF MEXICO.

AOlOec 1hOlan, whose name was PaDant-
I'm, was the first to discover that the
juice Of the magueY (Agave Americana.
better known to US as aloe or sscenturv
plant') might be distilled into beverage
Mt for the gods. Desiring to bring this
new blessing into royal favor, he called
MS only daughter-XOchiti, signifying
''the fiower'-and commissioned her as
cup-bearer to the King. This ancient
Hebe. we are told, was young and beauti-
full, and the monarch not only drank and
praised the pulque, but welded the
maiden; and to this day the beverage of
old Papantzin-whO was no doubt called
Pap" by his dutiful children-is the uni
Versal beverage of the lower classes in
Mexico. Maguey is as much of feature
OF this country as trees are Of the United
States. All over the land it fiOurishes.
cultivated with care IN many places,
growing out of bare rocks on the noun
tain side, and springing up as a weed in
Waterless deserts. 1t has an infinite va
riety of uses, and is to the Mexican In
dian what the reindeer is to the Esqui-
mauX or the rice plant to the Chinaman.
1t seems a special gift of nature to
supply all his simple wants; its coarse
cloth making his first, last and only gar
ment, and strong rope tying down his
coffin lid. The fibre of the leaf, beaten
and spun, forms a fine and beautiful
thread, glossy as silk in texture, which
resembles linen when woven into fabric.
1t is manufactured into theses coarser
cloths, also into paper, bagging sail
cloth, sacking, etc. The rope made from
1t Is called MANILA hemp, and is of I'M
common strength and excellence, by far
the best in use. The fibre yielded by the
maguey leaf, when pressed, is equal to
the best 4ucatan heneyquin and jute, for
cOrdage, and its pulp is unsurpassed for
paper making. Cut into coarse straws, it
forms the brOOms and whitewash brushes
Of the country; and as a substitute for
bristles, it is made into scrub-brooms,
busting brushes, and the tiny brOOms
which take the place of combs among the
common people. Beautiful fancy baskets,
mOney-bags, purses, sacthels, and thou
sand other toys, trinkets, and ornaments
are woven from its fibre. Has your horse
a sprain, your donkey bruise, a maguey
leaf, pounded and bound upon the in
jured member, is a certain cure, in short,
so varied and manifold are its uses that to
enUmerate them all is impossible.
Mexican tradition has it that paradise
was Mexico in general, and that the Veri-
table Garden of Eden was located in tie
valley of Jalapa, which lies little north
of Vera Cruz, near the Gulf of Mexico.
AAbCI AlldAl anu Eye ndu eaten the IOf-
hidden fruit and bethOught themselves of
dTessmaking, behold! nature supplied the
materials ready to their hands, for in the
maguey was combined cloth, needle and
thread. The pointed thOrns which termi-
nate the gigantic leaves are strong as
nails and sharp as needles, and to this day,
as in primitive times, they serve for nails,
needles and pins. The ancient sangui-
nary priests, inky-haired and adder
unninfo1 mead N
and tear their limbs with these thOrns
in acts of eXpiatiOn and penance; and
upon paper made of maguey fiber the
early MeXicans painted their picture
histories and hierOglyphic figures. At
present the greatest value of the maguey
comes from the amount of Intoxicating
liquor it produces Two species of it are
cultivated-one IN the desert portions
of the country, from which mescal
Mexican taGgle-fOOt) is distilled from
the expressed juice of the leaves, and the
other is the Towering maguey, that Won
der of the vegetable world, from which
pulque is drawn. In the district of Tey-
uila only no pulque is made from it, be-
cause there its special virtues enable the
same plant to produce the brandy named
after the district in which it grows. and
which is widely used throughout the
country. Teyuila brandy is made by an
ancient system dating back to the days of
the Aztecs, which consists simply in
roasting the bulbs in furnace dug in
the ground.
This gives a swedish liquor, which,
when distilled, yields the favOrite intOXi-
cant. 1t is said that one can get drunken
and remain so longer on a smaller guam
tity of teyuila than any other known
liquid, although it is as cOlorless as wa
ter, and almost as tasteless. But the prin-
cipal maguey product is pulque, of which
it is estimated that the City of Mexico
alone consumes over 100000 pints daily.
The government derives revenue of s.. 900
a day in duties on pulque brought to the
capital from the plains of Apam, and the
railroad which brings it receives an equal
amount for freightage. Next to pulque
and teyuila the magUey can be made to
yield an excellent quality of mo-
lasses, by clarifying the sweet de-
CoctiOn of the bulb. When distilled it
produces brandy, and undistilled mo-
lasses superior to that pressed from sugar
cane. The tradition that the Towering
maguey or century plant blooms but once
in 100 years 10 quite true, for-whether its
natural development has taken place or
its uses are changed to benefit mankind
it fulfills its destiny and perishes. 1t is
not often that we see the superb flower
upon its colossal stem, for the plant that
blooms is a useless beauty. The moment
that the experienced Indian becomes
aware his maguey is about to blossom he
cuts into the heart and covers it over
with the side leaves of the plant, when
all the juice which nature intended for
the great stem of the flower runs into the
basin thus forced.
At the age Of10 years a maguey begins to
show signs of poisoning, and is then
capable of producing pulque. During its
growth it throws out shoots, which are
Al,
three feet high, or after two years growth.
A shoot ready for planting, which costs a
real 12l cents }, will sell from $40 to $1S
when old enough to cut. In its fifteenth
year there are certain appearances,
known only to the initiated, which indi-
cate that the central stem, or hampe,
which sustains the flower, lis about to form
in the centre of the plant. If the owner
is not watching to cut out the heart at the
proper time, the hampe shoots up with
the rapidity of Jacks historic beanstalk,
absorbing all the sap which would other
wise make pulque. The sprOuting of the
stalk takes place in November or Deem
Der, but the magnificent cluster of flowers
does not form on its top till late in Feb
ruary. In this last month the monster
leaf that envelopes the hampe, gradually
unfolds a slender stalk the height of a
telegraph pole (Which 1t exactly resem-
bles) and its GROWING flowers are far be-
yOnd the reach of a man on horseback.
The juice of the maguey in its infer
mented state is called aqua mIet-honey
water. 1t is gathered from the central
basin-formed, as above mentioned, by
looping off the side leaves and cutting
into the heartily curious process. Into
the end of long gOurd cows horn is in
serted, bored at the point.
Through this horn and into the gOurd
the juice is reached by applying the mouth
to hole on the opposite side of the gourd.
The basin yields from four to eight quarts
a day, according to the size and thrift
ness of the plant, for a period of three
months, after which the plant dies and is
replaced by new one, which the prOvi-
dent owner has been raising from shoots.
But even in death its usefulness is not
over, for then its valuable fibres may be
utilized and its leaves pounded into
paper pulp. From the gourd-shell
the juice is emptied into a pig-skin,
which still retains the perfect
form of the animal-legs, tail, all intact
but the head. When this unique bottle
holds the hOney-water, all that now re-
mains to make tirst-class pulque of it is
to put into bottle of the same material
that has already been sOured, and which
acts like yeast. In two or three hours
fermentation has taken place, and then
the favOrite beverage is ready for drink
ing. Every Mexican estate cultiYates
more or less maguey. The mighty plants
answer for hedges, and mark the bOunda-
ries of lots and lands, two rows-with
their enormous leaves and bayOnet-like
thOrns-making an impenetrable fence.
Not only are the hedge rows thus profit