30 
Greenhouse and Stove Plants, 
AGAVE. 
They may be wintered anywhere out of 
the reach of frost, say under a greenhouse 
stage, or similar place, where there is only 
a limited amount of light. Give little 
water through the season of rest. 
The following are distinct and desir- 
able kinds :— 
A. precox. Has blue flowers, distinctly 
suffused with purple. A much scarcer 
plant than the old species. 
A. umbellatus. The best known sort, 
bearing large umbels of dark blue flowers. 
A. wmbellatus candidus. A pure white 
sort. A decided improvement on the old 
white form. 
A. umbellatus florepleno. A .double 
form of A. umbellatus, with deep blue 
flowers. A fine kind. 
A. wumbellatus variegatus. A variegated 
form, with prettily marked leaves. 
The species come from the Cape of 
Good Hope, A. umbellatus being amongst 
the oldest introductions we possess. 
Insects.—Agapanthus are little trou- 
bled with ‘insects. Aphides sometimes 
infest the young leaves, or more commonly 
the advancing flowers; when these are 
troublesome fumigate with some or other 
of the preparations of tobacco. 
AGATHAA CCLESTIS. 
This is an evergreen greenhouse plant, 
but nearly allied to Cineraria, sometimes 
passing under the name of Cineraria amel- 
loides. It comes from the Cape of Good 
Hope, and its pretty blue flowers are very 
effective. 
It is raised from seed sown in the spring 
in a little warmth ; when the seedlings 
have got fairly into growth, keep them in a 
greenhouse, potting off in sandy loam, and 
growing on afterwards as ordinary green- 
house plants. There isa variegated form 
of the plant, A. cclestis variegata, which 
succeeds under treatment similar to that 
given to the original species. 
Insxcts.—If affected with aphides or 
thrips, fumigate or dip in tobacco water. 
AGAVE. 
These greenhouse succulents are mostly 
grown for their handsome singular foliage ; 
they were held in much more favour in 
times past than at present. When the only 
medium of heating plant-houses was by 
the old smoke flue, with its drying in- 
fluences on the atmosphere of the house 
where used, Agaves, and other succulent 
plants, withstood the dry air better than 
other things, and were consequently more 
grown. Most of the species are grotesque- 
looking plants, very easily managed, and 
requiring much less attention than most 
things ; their ability to bear without in- 
jury an extremely dry condition of the soil 
that would be fatal to most plants is pro- 
verbial. They will stand, when at rest, a 
temperature anything short of frost, but 
thrive fastest when kept ina warm but 
dry atmosphere during the growing season. 
They require no shade, except such as may 
be needful to prevent the leaves being 
burnt through inequalities in the roof of 
the house where grown. Some of the 
species attain a large size, particularly the 
different forms of A. americana, which 
long had the character of not flowering 
until the plants were a century old. This 
idea has no foundation, and is traceable to 
the fact that the plants are often subjected 
to a starving course of treatment that pre- 
vent their getting strong enough to bloom 
until they have reached a long age. These 
Agaves will flower when they have ac- 
quired size and strength sufficient to do 
so, but at the same time it takes many 
years’ liberal treatment to enable them to 
bloom, so that the flowering of one of these 
large species is of comparatively rare 
occurrence. The flower stem rises to a 
height of twenty feet or more, in the form 
of an erect, many-branched peduncle, 
bearing immense numbers of bell-shaped 
flowers, of a greenish yellow tint, which 
is the colour, more or less varied, of the 
flowers of most Agaves. It may be here 
said that the flowers of these plants are not 
so much the object of their cultivation ; it 
is rather their distinct, and in the case of 
the large kinds noble, appearance when 
full grown. They have an essentially 
architectural character, associating well 
with buildings, in proximity to which, 
when stood out of doors (treatment which 
they will bear in summer), they have a 
fine effect. 
They are propagated from suckers, 
which most of the species, when well 
grown, produce with more or less freedom. 
These should be severed from the parent 
plant in spring just as growth is about to 
begin, securing as much of the connecting 
stem as possible, and inserting it in the 
soil within the pots in which the young 
plants are to be grown. Place them in an 
intermediate temperature, such as that of 
a vinery at work, or anywhere where a 
little warmth is available ; if such is not 
at hand they will succeed in an ordinary 
greenhouse. The pots should be compara- 
tively small, proportionately to the size of 
the suckers, and they must be thoroughly 
drained, as anything approaching a stag- 
nant condition of the soil is fatal to the 
