The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-02-20
THE AGAVE PLANT.
A Source Of Sustenance to the
People Of Mexico.
Prom It IL Made . Kind OF Liquor and
n Palatable DIsh-I Also Has
Some Medicinal Prop
critics.

Soil and almost ralnleSs climate must be
CONCEDED, but the greatest gift she has
bestowed on the poor natives who have
to get their living off the land is un-
doubtedly the agave, or. as it is m
times called, maguey plant. Three hun
dred and sixty-fve days of never-ending
sunshine are a great attraction to tour
lists and invalids, but to the farmer they
are fatal and Mexico is still suffering
from a drought that has lasted nearly
four years, says the New York Herald.
The maguey, for by that name it is
generally called In Mexico, is what
is commonly known as the century
plant in this country. The differ
ence is hat it is the real century plant,
while ours is not In appearance it is
much the same as the caucus that
adorns many of our northern gardens
and piazzas in the summer. only it is
larger and coarser. The leaves fire.
quently grow to a length of ten or
twelve feet, or even more, and bear
very sharp thorns.
1t takes the maguey about seven
years to blossom. When it does bloom
a stalk from ten to twenty feet tall
ohO'Io up IN CCHICI VI IDO C1uSOcI
of leaves and puts forth large flowers,
which vary from a bright red color to a
deep purple. just as it is about to
flower tho plant has reached the proper
stage for the use it is most frequently
put to-the making Of pulque (pro-
nounced pool-key).
To get the pulque the leaves and
stalk are cut off a little above the
ground, and the trunk formed by the
joining of the roots, which is often a
foot in diameter, Is followed out. In
this bowl, as it were, the sap which
was intended to nourish the flower &C
cumulates and is drawn out every day.
Dipping is the commonest way of get
ting the sap out of the hollow, though
suction pumps are sometimes used on
the big plantations now, and the prim-
tive way was to draw it through a
pipe with the mouth and then blow it
into a handy receptacle.
After it is taken from the plant the
sap must stand t~wenty-four hours to
ferment, and twenty-four hours after
the fermentation it spoils. Both French
and American companies have tried
time and again to find some way of
preserving pulque SO it could be ex-
ported, but as yet none have succeeded.
Pulque is shipped from the plarta-
tions in barrels and pigskins, and some
idea of the amount of it that is drunk
can be formed from the fact hat forty
car loads of it are taken to the City of
Mexico alone every morning. All but
a very little of this is consumed the day
it is received, and what is left over
spoils, and is either thrown away or
sold for half price as "sour pulque."
The "cantisnas," Oh barrooms, where
pulque is sold. generally supply hat
drink alone. They are very small,
dirty and i'll smelling, in which they re-
semble the crowd hat hangs around
them. The liquor-if it can be called
such-is brought around in barrels, on
carts drawn by solitary and forlorn
looking donkeys, as oon as the pulque
train arrives, and is sold by the greasy
pigskin.
Its taste is similar to a mixture of cod
liver oil and buttermilk that has gone
wrong. 1t is the color of skim milk
and strings" like molasses, but is not
SO thick. But when becomes used
to it, as he does after six or seven
drinks, it is not half so bad.
Pulque has very gentle but effectual
medicinal properties, and physicians
have claimed that it will cure Bright's
disease if taken in time. At the 'tcan-
tinas" it is sold in glasses of three
sizes, the largest about the same as a
big schooner" and costs one, two and
three cents a glass.
Excessive pulque drinking has a stu
pefying effect, and the idea that it is
wildly Intoxicating is all wrong. In its
distilled form it is called tequila or mes
cal and is very fiery. This liquor is sim
liar in appearance to gin and is violent
" intoxicating. 1t has been at the bot
tom of many a so-called ''Greaser up
rising"
The plantations on which maguey is
raised for pulque making are often
many acres in extent, and the plants
are set in rows, like corn. After a plant
has been tapped" it dies and is pulled
up, a young plant being put in its
place. The maguey grows best in a pc
%culiar, sandy soil, and there are several
distinct ''pulque regions"
The leaf of the maguey is not only
edible, but makes a very fine dish when
properly treated. The native Mexicans
dig pits and, taking the tenderest
leaves, bake them in holes over a smol-
dering fire, as charcoal is roasted. When
they are lust right" they are taken out,
the tough outer covering, which has
hardened into a shell, is peeled off, and
the pith is very tender and tastes a good
deal like roast corn.
The last use this cactus is put to is
the most remarkable one in q climate
such as Mexico, as ice never forms Of it
self except on the uninhabitable tops Of
the highest mountains. Mexico City Is
supplied by ice factories, but, Of course,
in rural districts ice cannot be obtained
that way.
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