USEFUL NATIVE, PLANTS OF NEW MEXICO—STANDLEY. 455 
to reach maturity. Each plant flowers but once, the leaves wither- 
ing as soon as seed is matured. About each dead plant is usually left 
a colony of young ones formed from suckers, by which the plant is 
propagated. The true mescal plant, a native of Mexico, the source 
of pulque, mescal, tequila, and other drinks, is not rare in cultivation 
in southern New Mexico, but is not indigenous. 
The native Agaves furnished one of the most important items in 
the diet of the Apaches and other Indian tribes, who used them for 
making what is known as mescal. It is from the manufacture of this 
article that the Mescalero Apaches, whose reservation les in the 
White and Sacramento Mountains, receive their name. 
There are two substances to which the term mescal is applied. It 
is more generally used to define an intoxicating beverage distilled 
from the fermented juice of the Agave. This drink is consumed in 
every part of Mexico, but is probably not manufactured to-day in the 
United States. After the coming of the Spaniards the natives of the 
Southwest learned to distill the alcoholic drink and it is not impossible 
that they had even developed the process independently. This, how- 
ever, is not the mescal to which the Mescalero Apaches owe their 
designation. 
The Apaches, like others of the southwestern Indians, were wont 
at certain times of the year to visit the localities where the century 
plants were most numerous. The favorite season was in early sum- 
mer when the flower stalks were just starting, but the plants could 
be used at any time. Pits 10 or-15 feet across and about 3 feet deep 
were dug and lined with stones, then filled with wood which was fired 
and kept burning until they were thoroughly heated. The fire was 
then raked out and the pits filled with the succulent Agave leaves. 
After being covered with grass or weeds the pits were left for some 
time, usually about three days, when they were opened and the thor- 
oughly cooked leaves (mescal) were taken out and eaten. The leaves 
thus cooked contain much sugar and have an agreeable sweet taste. 
They consist so largely of fiber that they are unfit to be eaten as a 
whole, but must be chewed until the digestible part is removed, the 
fiber being then ejected. Large amounts of mescal were prepared 
after this method and either eaten at once or partly dried and stored 
for later consumption. Mescal pits are of common occurrence in 
New Mexico wherever the Agave grows (pl. 6, B). The Mescaleros 
still prepare this food, but not such stores as in earlier days. In the 
markets of Mexico the same article is everywhere offered for sale. 
The leaves of the species used there are larger and furnish a greater 
amount of nutritious matter than the northern kinds. 
Another desert plant, more closely related to the Yuccas than to 
the Agaves, is the sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri, pl. 11), which was utilized 
by the Indians in much the same way as the century plant. Of this 
