Remarks on the Jlgave and other Plants. 331 



of double their length. Nevertheless, up to the year 1822, in 

 Kunth's synopsis of equinoctial plants, we still find Humboldt giving 

 tiie Agave Americana as the only species of Spanish America, in- 

 cluding equally the Maguey de Pulque of Mexico, and the Maguey 

 <ie Coaeyza of Cumana. The facts are, 1, That there are varieties 

 of another or other species of Agave, which are cultivated especially 

 for the peculiar drink called Pulque, afforded by their stems. 



2. That there are varieties of another, or other species of Agave, 

 which are cultivated especially for their coarse fibres called Henequin, 

 afforded by their leaves. 



3. That there are varieties of other Bromeliaceous plants, which 

 are not species of Agave, and which are not cultivated for the fine 

 fibres called Pita, yielded by their leaves. The long narrow thin 

 dry leaves which yield the scanty Pita, grow wild in the shade of 

 the fertile forests of Tobasco : the broad, thick, succulent leaves 

 which produce abundant Henequin, are cultivated in the sun, in the 

 sterile plains of Yucatan. 



The still larger and more succulent leaves of the true Pulque 

 plants of Mexico, now growing in this city, are so destitute of either 

 coarse or fine strong fibres, as to be easily broken or torn. Possibly 

 tlie only genuine drink-producing Agave in the United States, is an 

 almost mature plant which I sent to New Orleans, on the 22d of 

 May last, after passing in a garden here, six years from the time of 

 its youthful descent, from its native mountains. At all events, wheth- 

 er they be the Pulque or the Henequin plants, which, according to 

 Persoon, under the name of Jlgave Americana have traveled as far 

 as Switzerland to " form strong and impenetrable hedges which made 

 great resistance to armies," we are warranted in the belief, that they 

 will flourish in the United States as far north as our own Agave 

 Virginica, and that for the mere purpose of making live fences, 

 they merit immediate introduction to extensive cultivation in the 

 southern division of our confederation. The fibrous leaved plants 

 • are better adapted to cultivation in our southern latitudes, than the 

 fibrous barked plants, but were the climate equally suitable, the for- 

 mer class are greatly preferable to the latter. Our own Yucca fila- 

 mentosa, which produces the silk grass, as beautiful and strong, but not 

 near so long as the Pita, may be immediately cultivated on an exten- 

 sive scale : three years hence, the Sisal Agave may begin to yield 

 its perpetual crops of Henequin or grass hemp, on our sandy shores ; 

 in a few years more we may have hedges of the fibrous species of 



