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PROCEEDINGS OF TJtE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



VOL. XXXIII. 



I 



To European business methods we must attribute the vast tracts 

 of cultivated agave, whose strange appearance excites the wonder of 

 travelers. One sees on every hand prosperous haciendas devoted 

 to the production of pulque. (See fig. 3.) 



The haciendas in the pulque districts are indeed models of careful 

 agricidtural methods. The enormous and sure returns from pulque 

 manufacture and the abundance and cheapness of the resident labor 

 are apparent in the great and expensive buildings of the hacienda. 

 For laborers there are a church, a school, a store, and a village of bar- 

 racks; for the owner, an elaborate villa; and for the industry, a great 

 tinacal, or vat house and various stables, grain houses, and storehouses, 

 together forming an imposing group of buildings located among the 

 fields of agave. 



I'll,. .; — A(.AVI-. PLAM'AThiX NEAK I'lTY OF MEXICIi; CH APl],TKPEC IX THE llISTANCE. 



There is not space here to enter upon a detailed description of agave 

 culture. In general, plants two years old are taken from the " seed 

 beds" (as the close set plantations of suckers are called) and set out 

 8 or 10 feet apart, and for several years the spaces between the rows 

 are sown with other crops. At times irrigation is required, but there 

 is division of opinion as to its eft'ect on the quality of the pulque. In 

 about seven years the more forward plants, sometimes attaining a 

 weight of 2 tons, are ready to bloom, and there are certain signs by 

 which those who are skilled may detect the approach of this period. 

 The size and age of the individuals, the brown spots which appear on 

 the basal leaves, and the erect and bristling central leaves are prime 



