340 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



the axils of the immense leaves or fronds, and before they burst the spathe in 

 which they are enveloped, they are carefully bound together with pieces of 

 palm-leaf. These buds are then beaten every morning with sticks and a thin 

 slice removed from the tip of the axis of inflorescence. From the freshly ex- 

 posed surface the sweet sap runs very abundantly for several months. Indeed, 

 some species continually send out new flower-stalks, which are constantly bled 

 until, after two or three years, the tree dies from exhaustion. 



SAP OF THE CENTURY PLANT. 



But the most remarkable flow of sap is that of the Agave Americana, or cen- 

 tury plant. This is the largest herbaceous plant known, the leaves of one in 

 the Durfee plant-house being eight feet long and of immense weight. In 

 Mexico, the sap of this species furnishes the favorite beverage of the people. 

 This is called pulque, and has a most detestable odor of carrion and a slightly 

 acid taste. The Mexicans are very fond of it, and natives of other countries 

 soon learn to love it, and then prefer it to claret. The sap is procured by cut- 

 ting out the bud of the inflorescence which appears in the centre of the massive 

 crown of leaves, and, if undisturbed, develops into a flower- stalk from thirty 

 to forty feet high and covered with thousands of blossoms. The cavity made 

 by removing the bud is speedily filled with a sweet sap, and the total amount 

 from one plant is stated by "Von Humboldt to be from twelve to sixteen hun- 

 dred pounds. The plant then dies from exhaustion. 



It is impossible to give any satisfactory explanation for these extraordinary 

 phenomena. It is easy to state that these plants produce large quantities of 

 starch and sugar preparatory to flowering, but why should they continue to 

 flow so long after the trees are cut down or the flower buds removed ? 



If it be true that the sap of plants flows to the points of consumption, it is 

 still diflicult to explain why it should persistently tend upward to the top of a 

 prostrate trunk, or of a standing tree, for months after the bud, for the special 

 nourishment of which it is designed, has been destroyed, and after the process 

 of growth has been entirely suspended. 



It is evident, in conclusion, that there yet remains ample room for investi- 

 gation concerning the phenomena connected with the development of plants 

 and the circulation of sap. Though we cannot hope to exhaust the subject, or 

 to discover precisely what the force is which we call life, and which imparts to 

 every species and individual of the vegetable world its peculiar form and char- 

 acteristics, it is none the less important and interesting to exercise our utmost 

 ingenuity in the effort to discover the times and modes of its operation, and 

 its relations to the other forces of Nature. 



