TO THE FLOWER GAEDEN. 7 



AFRICAN MARIGOLD. See Tagetes eeecta. 



AGAPAXTHUS. Afeican Lily. [Liliace^e.] Green- 

 house perennial herbs. These very handsome plants are 

 much neglected, because they happen to be capable of living 

 and flowering with very ill usage. It is propagated by 

 separating the young suckers, that in time would fill the pot 

 and starve the old plant. Hence we see this plant in all 

 places nearly or quite pot-bound, in consequence of which 

 the flowers are small and not brilliant. The suckers should 

 be placed in pots large enough to take all the roots without 

 cramping, in soil composed of loam one-half, decomposed 

 dung one-quarter, and leaf-mould one-quarter, well mixed. 

 Shift into larger pots as often as the roots become numerous, 

 and the instant suckers appear let them be broken off. With 

 this treatment the flower-stem thro^vn up will be strong, the 

 flowers large; and the plant thus grown forms one of the 

 most noble objects in the garden or conservatory in the 

 month of August. The species merely differ as to their size 

 and the time of flowering ; they are all worthy of cultivation. 

 They may be raised from seed by sowing it as soon as it 

 ripens, and starting it in a hotbed ; the seedlings, when well 

 up, removed to the warm part of a greenhouse, and when 

 grown enough pricked out into small pots, and treated as 

 young offsets. A. imihellatus, flowers blue. The varieties 

 albidus, with white flowers, and variegatiis, with variegated 

 leaves and blue flowers, are distinct and pretty. 



AGATHA A. [Compositse.] Greenhouse sub-shrubby 

 plants, useful for the summer decoration of the flower garden. 

 Good garden soil, or loam and leaf-mould. Propagated freely 

 by cuttings in August or February, the young plants being 

 kept in a frame or greenhouse, and planted out in May. A, 

 coelestis, flowers pale blue, and A. Unifolia, flowers blue, all 

 summer. 



AGATHOSMA. [Rutace^.] Greenhouse shrubs. Soil, 

 turfy peat mixed with sand. Propagated by cuttings of the 

 tops of the young shoots in sand under bell-glasses. A. 

 ambigua, flowers white. A. imbricata, flowers pink. A. villosa, 

 flowers violet. 



AGAYE. [x^maryllidaceae.] Greenhouse succulent peren- 

 nials, often very large, requiring to be kept dry and from 



