vary in quality from the coarsest hemp to the finest flax 
.... The simplicity of its cultivation and the facility of 
extracting and preparing its products render it of uni- 
versal use. From it is fabricated thread and cordage, 
mats, bagging and clothing, and the hammocks in which 
the natives are born, repose and die. The fibres of the 
pita are sometimes employed in the manufacture of 
paper, it is used as a caustic for wounds, and its thorns 
serve the Indians for needles and pins. The point gen- 
erally selected for its cultivation is a thick forest, from 
which the small undergrowth is removed by cutting and 
burning. The roots of the old plants are then set out, at 
a distance of five or six feet apart, and at the end ofa 
year the leaves are cut and ‘rasped’. When the pita is 
young its fibres are fine and white, but as it increases in 
age they become longer and coarser. ... In a wild state 
the thorns are very numerous, but by cultivation they 
are diminished both in size and number, and in many 
instances there are none at all. Even with the imperfect 
instruments used in cleaning the leaves, four or five 
pounds of fibres per day is only a fair average for the 
labor of aman. ... In 1881,... the ixtle plantations in 
the northern division numbered 1221.”’ 
Aechmea magdalenae is known to be utilized as the 
source of a fibre not only by the natives in Mexico, but 
also in Honduras (Standley in Field Mus. Nat. Hist. 
Publ. Bot. 10 (1931) 126), Costa Rica (Standley in ibid 
18 (1987) 148), Panama and other parts of Central Amer- 
ica (Standley, in Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 27 (1928) 
108), and Colombia (Wright in Kew Bull. 1923 (1928) 
266-7; Archer in Scientific Monthly 44 (1987) 14). 
Although it must be classed as one of the most desir- 
able of Mexican fibre plants, Aechmea magdalenae has 
apparently only recently begun to attract the attention 
which it merits. It was not mentioned in Altamirano’s 
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