‘ 
282 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
INVESTIGATION OF FOOD PRODUCTS. 
CERTAIN PLANTS OF ECONOMIC VALUE AS FOOD FOR 
MAN AND STOCK IN TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO. 
By CLIFFORD RICHARDSON. 
During the past few years several plants have been brought tomy 
attention which are in use for forage purposes or as food for man 
in Texas and New Mexico. They belong to the genera Opuwntia, 
Dasylirion, and Agave. One of the Agave species has been super- 
ficially examined from a chemical point of view by O. Loew in his 
reports to the Wheeler survey.* it isnot of agricultural importance, 
that I am aware, but it isof interest because of its chemical relations 
to the others. The Dasylirion species, known as Sotol, I have al- 
ready noticed in the Annual Report of the Department of Agricult- 
ure for 1883, pages 242-244. It belongs tothe family Liliacew. Gen- 
erally described it consists of a caudex 2 to 5 feet high, bearing a 
rosette of light-green leaves 3 or 4 feet long and ;4 to ~) inch broad, 
expanding intoa fleshy base 1 to 2inches broad, and a flowering stem 
8 to10feetlong.+ It is thefieshy bases of the leaves, forming a dense 
cabbage-like head, which are used for feeding purposes. The outer 
are black and hard, while the imner are yellowish-white and succu- 
lent. The heads weigh 6 or 7 pounds, of which the soft edible por- 
tion forms one-third. Theshepherd splits the head open with a knife, 
after which the sheep or cattle readily get at the succulent interior, 
and in time become accustomed to pull off the outer leaves. Sheep 
living on it can exist without water in winter for four or five months. 
It is eaten by man, when prepared by roasting in pits, after the man- 
ner of the Agave. Itisalso fermented into a mescal or highly intoxi- 
cating liquor, known from the name of the plant as ‘‘ Sotol mesal.” 
The plant grows abundantly in western Texas and Mexico on 
rocky and gravelly soil, and flourishes in the driest seasons. An 
investigation of the soft interior showed that about 40 per cent. of 
juice may be expressed from it, which is, sirupy, and consists of 
over 30 per cent. of solid matter, corresponding to sugars, equiva- 
lent to— 
Per cent. 
Reducing sugar, Aas MexdwOse: 62/24 bsg ocysh v0 coekrste rere OSs hess 2 Bs eee 66 
Supanr, reducing after IN Version, AS SJICEOSE 3. .miofray ~ ojle ae cio Bee oe os = 26. 44 
An examination of the whole head showed the presence of between 
15 and 16 per cent. of sugars. The reducing sugar resembles dex- 
trose, but the principal sugar is not sucrose, since the juice polar- 
izes 30° to the left before inversion, marking it at once as new, 
since no non-reducing sugar of such rotatory power is known. It 
is readily inverted, even on boiling, with production of a substance 
other than sugar, besides the reducing matter. The plant is there- 
fore distinguished by the presence of a large amount of a glucoside 
readily decomposed, and which could be further investigated with 
interest. 
The agave examined by Dr. Loew was also found to contain a 
large amount of asimilar substance. It was a species related to 
*Repor sof the Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. Lieut. G. M. Wheeler in 
charge. Vol. Iil, Geology, 610, 611. j 
+ Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad., xiv., 249. 
