Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/449

Rh and spreads apart slightly, so that a few seeds are easily shaken out by a gust of wind. The inflorescence, though dead, may stand for a year or more, and the seeds that it bears may be scattered over a wide area.

Before this plant comes into bloom the tender apex of the short stem is often used as food. Out in isolated places among the mountains one may come upon a rude circle of heavy stones bordering a shallow pit. The Mexican would say that here they were preparing quiote by taking the hearts of the magueys and roasting them in the pit. Upon further inquiry he will say that these morsels are covered with earth and stones and the fire built over them and kept for some hours. The older leaves yield a fiber for cordage, though this plant to a less degree than its larger relative, A. americana. Many uses are found for the maguey; in fact hardly any other plant of Mexico serves the people in so many ways as this one. It provides food and drink, it yields fine strong fibers for ropes, fabrics and other articles. It has served in the manufacture of paper and enters into the construction of fences and buildings. It formerly found use in religious rites and was part of the material of weapons.

As ornamental plants the cultivated magueys are hard to beat. During its fifteen years' or more life it produces relatively few leaves, but towards the close of its span of years one hundred or more of these may be in evidence, each somewhat narrow, six to ten feet in length and often weighing as much as one hundred pounds. Most of them are a dull dark green, some are margined with yellow or yellowish green. They are often planted as hedges or borders, and as such they are very attractive to look at. The short stem which in all the years has not attained a height of two feet now suddenly shoots up to thirty feet, its outstanding branches in symmetrical order enhancing its dignity and beauty beyond that of most other plants.

On the slopes of many foothills that rise from the edge of the desert plain and often on the higher slopes in great profusion, one finds a stately plant which is always conspicuous and always beautiful. Something about the sotól makes it especially attractive, with its pale green leaves an inch wide and a yard long, the tips of which often overtop a man's he.ad. But these leaves, though beautiful to look upon, are well armed against any invader by means of many forward set teeth along their margins. In fact, a leaf of Dasylirion is like a piece of doublee-edged band saw.

Under the hot sun of May and June the flower stalk ascends from the center of the crown of leaves and carries its topmost flowers to twice the height of the horseman riding by. These flowers, unlike those of the maguey, are small and borne on a long and slender, though compact panicle; they are monœcious, therefore not all the tall stems