The Florida agriculturist., 1884-10-29
A Useful Plant of Mexico.
MAGUEY, AND THE VARIOUS USES To
WHICH 1T Is PUT.


MAGUEY, AND THE VARIOUS USES To
WHICH IT Is PUT.
Somewhere about the year 990-so the
| legend runs, saws a Mexican letter-a
Toltec Indian, whose name was Papant-
zin, was the first to discover that the
juice of the Maguey (Agave Americana,
better known to us as aloe or Century
plant ')might be distilled into beverage
fit for the gods. Desiring to bring this
new blessing into royal favor, he called
his only daughter-Xochiti, signifying
sthe 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 flourishes,
cultivated with care in many places,
growing out of bare rocks on the noun
tain side, and springing up as 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 is to the China
man. ia
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.p The fibre of the leaf, beaten
and spun, forms fine and beautiful
thread, glossy as silk in texture, which
resembles linen when woven into fabric
1t is manufactured into these coarser
cloths, also into paper, bagging, sail
| cloth, sackipg, etc. Therope made from
! it is called MANILA hemp, and is of un-
common strength and excellence, by far
the bestin use. The fibre yielded by the
maguey leaf, when pressed, is equal to
the best Yucatan henequin and iute for
cordage, and it's pulp is unsurpassed for
paper making. Cut into coarse straws, i
z forms the brOOnas and lpllitaWasl9 brl7shes
of the country; and as substitute FOR
bristles, it is made into scrub brooms,
| busting brushes, aud the tiny brooms
which take the place ofcombs among the
common people. Beautiful fancy baskets
money bags, purses, satchels, 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
iured 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
veritable Garden of Eden was located
in the valley of Jalapa, which lies lit
tie north of Vera Cruz, near the Gulf of
Mexico.
After Adam and Eve had eaten the for
hidden fruit and bethought themselves
of dressmaking, behold nature supplied
the materials ready to their hands, for
in the maguey was combined cloth,
needle and thread. The pointed thorns
which terminate the gigantic leaves are
strong as nails and sharp as needles,
and to this day, as in primitive times,
| they serve for nails, needlss and pins.
The ancient songuinary priests, inky-
haired and adder anointed, used to pierce
their breasts and tear their limbs with
these thorns in acts OF eXpiation and
penance; and upon paper made of ma
guey fibre 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 portion of the country, from which
| Dl6SCdl N-lCAlCdl Is
from the expressed juice of the leaves,
/ and the other is the Towering maguey,
that wonder ofthe vegetable world, from
which pulque is drawn. In the district
of Tevuila only no pulque is made from
it, because there its special virtues en-
able 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 sweetish liquor, which,
when distilled, yields the favorite intox-
ieant. Itis 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
principal maguey product is pulque, OF
i which it is estimated that the city OF
Mexico alone consumes over 100000
! pints daily. The government derives
revenue Of 81 900 day in duties on
Epulque 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 ex-
cellent quality of molasses by clarifying