60 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
Maguay, the species most generally known as the Century 
Plant, will bloom at ten years of age. At the time it is 
ready to send up its flowering stalk, a most remarkable 
upward flow of sap takes place to meet the new demands. 
The liquor, called ‘* agua de miel,’’ or honey-water, is very 
sweet, and the Mexicans and Indians find it much to their 
taste. They cut out the central bud and leaves, and insert 
a long, cylindrical gourd to receive the liquor. Some 
plants produce an average of two gallons per day, and keep 
up the supply for months. 
Pulque, a universal drink in Mexico, is made by collect- 
ing considerable quantities of the ‘‘ miel’’ in vats made of 
rawhide, and causing it to ferment. This liquor, which at 
first was greenish or yellow, is now white and appears much 
like half-turned buttermilk. It has a strong yeasty odor. 
Though it is said to acquire a strong taste from its reser- 
voir, foreigners, as well as the Mexicans, acquire a taste for 
it, and it has become an article of commerce. It is said | 
to be cool, refreshing, palatable and nutritious. The A. 
Mexicana is also used in the manufacture of pulque. Mr. 
Baker* states that the A. atrovirens is the species espe- 
cially used. I find the A. Americana most frequently 
mentioned, Mr. Dodgef states that it is made from any 
species with a crown sufliciently large to form a receiving 
reservoir for the liquor as it exudes. 
From the pulque, by a process of distillation carried on 
in their pulquerias, the Mexicans manufacture a fiery and 
intoxicating liquor which they call ‘‘ aguardiente de mag- 
uay,’’ ‘*mescal,’’ or ‘* mescal tequile,’’ to distinguish it 
from ‘* mescal sotol,’’ made more cheaply from Dasylirion. 
Both pulque and mescal are regularly peddled in the streets 
in receptacles made of pig-skins, which will hold from 
twenty to thirty gallons. They may always be obtained in 
the pulquerias or cantinas (saloons), where the walls are 
* Amaryllideae, 174. 
t Report of Sisal Hemp Culture. Fiber Investigations. 1891. 46. 
