[Illustration:
The Century Plant.
]
The century plant, as we call it, though it does not live much longer
than fifty years, is a kind of cactus. The cactus family—or the “cacti,”
for we never say cactuses—numbers fully forty members, and you are
pretty sure to find them growing in those parts of the far south where
the sun and sand dry up every other green thing.
The true century plant, or agave, is found chiefly in Mexico. It is
composed of a clump of thick and fleshy leaves, each having a hard,
sharp, thorny point at its extremity, as well as an edging of prickly
spines growing the whole length of the leaf.
At the flowering time a tough, tall stem grows from the center of the
plant, rising to the height of ten or fifteen feet, and producing a
blossom of a yellowish-green color.
It is said that the century plant has been put to no less than one
hundred uses. For example, the fiber of the plant is spun into thread
and made into garments; the thick, fleshy leaves produce an extract
which is used as a substitute for soap; while the tough flowering stem,
when withered, serves the purpose of a razor strop. The pointed thorns
at the tip of each great leaf are used by the natives as needles, and
the leaves themselves are made into shingles. It seems possible to make
paper out of almost any substance, and this plant is not an exception.
Just at the time when this juicy, pulpy plant begins to flower the
flower-bearing stem is cut off, together with the thick leaves
immediately around it. A basinlike hollow is made in the center, into
which all the rich sap or juice flows. A single plant will, for two or
three months, produce at the rate of two gallons of this fluid each day.
It is collected in vessels of raw-hide, and kept until it ferments. Many
Mexicans get drunk on this “pulque.” The city of Mexico contains eight
hundred and twenty shops in which this beverage is sold. Eighty thousand
gallons are consumed daily throughout Mexico.