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AGAVES OF THE UNITED STATES. 49 
Dr. T. E. Wilcox, U. S. A., of Fort Huachuca, Dr. P. T. 
Straub, U. S. A., of San Carlos, Dr. Berkeley Macauley, 
U. 8. A., of Fort Apache, Professor James W. Toumey, 
of Tucson, Arizona; Professor E. W. Wooton, of Las 
Cruces, Dr. James K. Kimball, U.S. A., of Fort Wingate, 
Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Allaire, of Deming, Mrs. D. C. Bil- 
lings, of Las Cruces, Mrs. J. A. Baird, of Las Cruces, 
Mrs. Angus Campbell, of Cliff, and to Dr. and Mrs. W. O. 
Owen, Quartermaster James E. Brett, Captain and Mrs. 
A. C. Markley, and Colonel and Mrs. Jacob F. Kent, of 
Fort Bayard, New Mexico. 
The work has been a most interesting one. It has opened 
up to me a number of questions, some of which, no doubt, 
could be soon answered by proper field work, while others 
would repay careful study through a series of years. 
In the genus Agave, Baker* recognized one hundred 
and thirty-eight species, and quite a number have been 
since described. As our knowledge increases, it is probable 
that the number which will stand as legitimate species may 
be much reduced. Many descriptions have been made from 
plants growing in European greenhouses whose inflorescence 
is unknown. Some of the old descriptions are so meager 
as to give no certainty as to the plants described; others so 
minutely describe single conservatory plants whose counter- 
part has never been seen, that the names given probably 
stand for these isolated plants. 
Young plants of a given species may differ from one 
another, and from the mature plants, so greatly as to be 
unrecognizable. Under the changed conditions in which 
they are obliged to live in greenhouses, these plants 
frequently develop peculiarities which may or may not re- 
peat themselves in successive generations and which may or 
may not be found in the natural state. 
Owing to the size and weight and formidable armor of 
the Agaves, as well as the difficulty in pressing and drying 
* Handbook of the Amaryllideae. 1888. London. 
3 
