AMERICAN ALOE.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 383, 10 September 1903, Page 8

AMERICAN ALOE.

Many Utes of the Century Plant of Sooth western Deserts, tlfpllM Mexicans with Food, Drink. Clothing-, Medicine, Soap, Seediest ftc.-Somf of Its Fecnliarltlee. The century plant, which grows *Hld in the desert soil of our southwestern states and territories, is not the delicate thing so carefully tended in the northern conservatory, but • growth of splendid proportions and ene of the most useful in the vegetable kingdom. In its native state it matures in eight or ten years, but when it is cultivated as an exotic the blooming u delayed indefinitely. This gives rise to the belief that it takes it 100 years to reach perfection. It is also called the American aloe. Agave Americana, maguey and mezcai plant. It was incorrectly classed by some of the early botanists with the aloe, and Linnaeus first called it agave from a Oreok word meaning something grand and admirable. It is the oldest known of about 100 species 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 Mexico, where it is called the mezcai, large tracts of land are devoted to its propagation. Being* a desert plant it requires little care and the soil could hardly be put to a more profitable use. It supplies the people food, drink, clothing, shelter, medicine, soap, needles, thread and many other things. Its thick, pulpy, ■pine-tipped leaves grow to the length of five or six feet, and without, a 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 a paper on which they did their famous picture writing, while from the same source we get pita flax, ropes and hammocks. Its roots furnish a soap called amole; from the center of the flower stalk is obtained a substitute for the hone or razor strop; its spongy portion is used in place of cork and the dried flower stems make a rain-probf thatching. Certain 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 phints into the skin as a mode of punishment. Year after year the plant stores away its juices for the support of its flowers. When it is ready for the final effort of its life there rises from the center of the great cluster of leaves a long shaft which divides and subdivides. a*ar the top. into numerous flower branches until it resembles a huge candelabrum. The rapidity with which this plant grows is hardly credible. It increases several inches in a day; and when it reaches a height of about 40 feet and bears 4,000 perfectly-formed blossoms of ereamy white, it is truly one of nature's marvels. At whatever period this occurs it i» not repeated. After the petals fall and the great seed pods drop their contents on the sand the long leaves droop 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 its juices. When the -first signs of the flower stalk appear, the delicate shoot is plucked and its base scooped out, leaving a hollow place in which the sweet sap collects. A large plant will yield several quarts a day, or upward of 200 gallons during a season. The juice is diluted with water, then allowed to ferment for several days, when it somewhat resembles buttermilk in color and flavor. This is pulqne, the national beverage of the Mexicans, and from it is distilled the famous mezcai. Large numbers of the century plant are ctit yearly from the hilfaides of southern Arizona, to be converted into this drink in the Mexican distilleries just across the border. In spite of the line riders, it is smuggled back into our country and aold. Unlike pulque, mezcai is a clear, white, fiery liquor, and in this state it is not scorned by the white men. It has been well described as "a terrific whisky which drives those who drink it to sheer madueu." Meaning- of "Oklahoma." It has been stated that the name of Oklahoma means "beautiful land." but missionaries who have made special study of Indian languages dispute it. They say that it is a Choetaw word, and means "red people." Truth is more to be desired than sentimental appropriateness, of course, but "beautiful land" would so aptly describe Oklahoma that, we regret that If is not the true significance of the word- Youth's Laureate Soneenee. Tennyson is said to have been fond of foolish fun, that ever delightful sort of fun which is not wit but nonsense. One day, at Burlington house, he asked the guests a conundrum which he had just made. "Who are the greatest women in the world?" The answer was: "Miss Ouri, the Misses Ippi and Kara Oossa."—Youth's Companion.