330 Remarks on the ^gave and other Plants. 



Art. VIII. — Additional remarks on the Agave and other plants^ 

 from tvhich ropes, twine, and thread, are made ; by James Mease^ 

 M. D., and H. Perrine, Esq. 



Philadelphia, Oct. 30, 1833, 



TO THE EDITOR. 



Sir, — As the American consul, Mr. Perrine, at Carnpeche, had 

 recommended the introduction into Florida, of the Agave Ameri- 

 cana, and other vegetables from which cordage, twine and thread, 

 are made in that country and other countries, I thought it would be 

 agreeable to him to see my paper on that subject, which was inserted 

 in the 21st vol. of your Journal, and therefore sent it to him. He 

 has acknowledged the receipt of it in a letter dated Sept. 2d, which 

 I send you, as it contains very useful remarks. 



As the project of Mr. Perrine is highly patriotic, and may essen- 

 tially benefit Florida in the first instance, and the United States at 

 large, I hope that Congress will liberally encourage him by the dona- 

 tion of as much land as he may require. The cultivation of the 

 mulberry tree for silk, might go on at the same time with the fibrous 

 plants. James Mease. 



Consulate U. S. A. Carnpeche, 2d Sept. 1833. 

 Dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to acknowledge, in a pamphlet 

 form, your article " on some of the vegetable materials, from which 

 cordage, twine, and thread are made," which I first read in the Amer- 

 ican Journal of Science and Arts, tlie Oct. No. 1831. I adverted 

 to the service you had thus rendered to the public, in a letter in- 

 serted the ensuing January, in some of our newspapers, and in- 

 tended to correct some mistakes in your paper under the divis- 

 ion of Agave Americana. Baron Humboldt is responsible for at 

 least the following errors which have been propagated under this 

 vague specific title, viz. that the singular drink called Pulque, the 

 coarse fibres called Henequin, (Hane a kane,) and the fine fibres 

 called Pita, are produced by one and the same plant. Having told 

 us in his Essay on New Spain, that there are in the Spanish Colonies, 

 several species of Maguey, which appear to belong even to differ- 

 ent genera, the distinctive epithet Maguey de Pulque, should alone 

 have led him to examine whether the same plant which is cultivated 

 expressly for the juice of its stem, could possess coarse leaves of 

 such extraordinary properties as to yield the fine fibres called Pita, 



