The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1901-05-17
THE AMERICAN ALOE.
Many Uses Of the Century Plant of
Southwestern Deserts.
Supplies Mexicans with Food, Drink,
Clothing, Medicine, Soap, Need
les, Etc.-SOme of Its Pc
culiarities.

Lie CcuCuIy PlduG, WHICH, grows
wild in the desert soil of our south
western states and territories, is not
the delicate thing so carefully tend
ed in the northern conservatory, but
a growth of splendid proportions and
one of the most useful in the vege-
table kingdom. In it's native state it
natures in eight or ten years, but
when it is cultivated as an exotic the
blooming is delayed indefinitely.
This gives rise to the belief that it
takes it 100 years to reach perfec-
ton.
1t is also called the American aloe,
Agave Americana, maguey and mez-
cal plant. 1t was incorrectly classed
by some, of the early botanists with
the aloe, and Linnaeus first called it
agave from a Greek word meaning
something grand and admirable. It
is the oldest known of about 100 spe-
,cies of the genus agave, all natives
of our continent, says the Detroit
Free Press.
Maguey is the name most applied
to it in South America, and in Mex
leo, where it is called the mezcal,
large tracts of land are devoted to
it's propagation. Being desert
plant it requires little care and the
soil could hardly be put to more
profitable use. 1t supplies the peo-
pie food, drink, clothing, shelter,
medicine, soap, needles, thread and
many other things. Its thick, pulpy,
spine-tipped leaves grow to the
length of five or six feet, and without
n stem. They are cut in slices and
fed to the cattle or roasted by the
Mexicans for their own eating.
From the fibers the Aztecs made n
paper on which they did their famous
picture writing, while from the same
source we get pita fax, ropes and
hammocks. Its roots furnish a soap
called amole; from the center of the
flower stalk is obtained substitute
for the hone or razor strop; its
spongy portion is used in place of
cork and the dried flower stems
make a rain-proof matching. Ger
tain people believe the juice to be an
Antidote for rattlesnake poison. The
spines are used as needles, while it
is said the Aztecs introduced their
cruel points into the skin as mode
of punishment.
Year after year the plant stores
away it's juices for the support of it's
flowers. When it is ready for the
final effort of it's life there rises from
the nnnfny nf tho ri, -
leaves long shaft which divides and
subdivides, near the top, into numer-
Gus flower branches until it resem-
bles huge candelabrum. The rapid
ity with which this plant grows is
hardly credible. 1t increases several
inches in day; and when it reaches
height of about 40 feet and bears
1000 perfectly-formed blossoms of
creamy white, it is truly one of ma
lures marvels.
AT whatever period this occurs it
is not repeated. After the petals fall
and the great seed pods drop their
contents on the sand the long leaves
Groop and the plant withers to the
ground. The roots may live to send
up new sprouts, but the old plant has
had its day.
The Agava Americana is perhaps
best known to the outside world by
the liquors that are made from it's
Juices. When the first signs of the
Hover stalk appear, the delicate
shoot is plucked and it's base scooped
out, leaving hollow place in which
the sweet sap collects. A large plant
will yield several quarts a day, or
upward of 200 gallons during a sea-
son. The juice is diluted with wa
ter, then allowed to ferment for sew
eral days, when it somewhat resem-
bles buttermilk in color and flavor
This is pulque, the national beverage
OF the 'Mexicans, and from it is dis
titled the famous mezcal.
Large numbers of the century
plant are cut yearly from the hill
sides of southern Arizona, to be con-
verified into this drink in the Mex
lean distilleries just across the bor-
der. In spite of the line riders. it is
struggled back into our country and
sold.
Unlike pulque, mezcal is a clear,
white, fiery liquor, and in this state
1t is not scorned by the white men.
1t has been well described as "a ter
rifle whisky which drives those who
drink it to sheer madness"