No. 1579. 



THE PULQUE OF }rEXICO~}tOUGH. 



579 



especially where they lie contiguous to markets, are now utilized to 

 some extent for pulque, fiber, fruit, and confections of the tuna or 

 prickly pear, etc., and are very profitable. In these natural fields 

 began the utilization of the agave, their abundance rendering them of 

 great economic value ; but the products of the wild plants are inferior 

 to those of the cultivated. The selection and cultivation of the eco- 

 nomic variety appears to have l)egun with the agave grown for family 

 use around the native jacals, where conditions of fertilization and care 

 led to the development of large, thrifty, quick-maturing specimens, 

 and this is the history of the adoption of valuable vegetal forms by 

 man. Many of the native pueblos of Mexico still present this early 



Fig. 2.— Natural growth of agave, prickly pear, and cacti on hills near Tunol, Duran(;o, 

 Mexico. Workman with lever on shoulder. 



stage of plant domestication. They consist of numerous contiguous 

 house plots, bounded by hedges of useful plants or loosely laid up 

 stone walls, and in these gardens plants were tested and modified, and 

 here were the early steps in agriculture. Within the fii'st generation 

 after Cortez conquered Mexico the Spaniards sought the commercial 

 exploitation of the country, and the large grants of land made for 

 various services to the crown were put to a wider use under a more 

 compact organization of labor and transportation than had ever been 

 accomplished by the native tribes." (Figs. 1-2.) 



a The Humljoldt Codex has a representation of the pulque industry under Spanish 

 management. SelerinBull. 28, Bur. Amer. Ethnol.. 1904, p. 210. 



