AGROSTEMMA. 



tinguishes them. \Vhen they liave 

 t done flowering in autumn, they should | 

 I be gradually dried, by withholding I 

 j -water ; and finally, when the soil in 

 j the pots has become tolerably dry, 

 ! and there is danger of frost, the pots 

 I should be removed for the \\-iiiter, 

 j either into a cold pit, or under the 



stage of the greenhouse ; or they may j 



! be placed in a cellar : but then they i 



j must be kept very dry, and should j 



I be removed from such a situation as i 



I soon as they show signs of vegetation. 



j These plants will also force freely, 



j if well supplied with moisture and 



j bottom -heat ; but in that case the 



! flowers become very pale. They are 



! easily increased by dividing the old 



j plant vfhen in a dormant state. They 



j seldom require shifting when once 



i established, if supplied once or twice 



j during the gi'owing season with a 



I little liquid manure." "When pro- 



! perly treated, and kept in a green- 



j house, or living-room, or ujider a 



verandah, this j)lant will frequently 



send up a flower-stalk above three 



1 feet high, crowned with twenty or 



} thirty heads of flowers, which will 



I come into blossom in succession ; 



and when grown in the open air, it 



forms a noble ornament to an archi- 



1 tectural terrace, or a fine object on a 



i lawn. AVhen the roots have become 



! so large as to require a pot of incon- 



I venient size (for the roots must have 



plenty of pot-room), it is said that 



the bulb may be divided, and the 



strongest of the fibrous roots cut 



off, without injuring the plant, or 



preventing it from flowering. 



I Aga'ricus. — A genus of Fungi, 



! of the Mushroom kind, but gene- 



• rally poisonous. 



Aga've. — AmarylUdacece. — Suc- 

 culent plants from South America, 

 of which one species, the American 

 Aloe, A. americdna, and a varie- 

 gated-leaved variety of it, are old in- 

 habitants of British gardens ; having 



been formerly kept in tubs, in the 

 orangery or in some other house 

 during winter, and set out during 

 summer. The large leaves of the 

 Agave render it by no means adapted 

 for a small greenhouse ; but as it 

 only requires protection from frost, 

 it may be kept during the winter in 

 a shed where there is very little light, 

 till summer, when it may be set out 

 on a lawn or terrace, giving it very 

 little water while in a state of repose. 

 This mode of treatment may be ap- 

 plied to all succulent plants that are 

 dormant during om* winters. The 

 American Aloe requires a rich 

 loamy soil, and is increased by 

 suckers. It was formerly supposed 

 tliat it produced its candelabra-like 

 blossoms only once in a hundred 

 years ; but this is a vulgar error, as 

 it sometimes produces its flowers, in 

 hot countries, in ten years — the 

 period varying to twenty, fifty, or 

 even seventy years according to the 

 climate, and the care bestowed on 

 the jilant by the gardener. The 

 flower-stem is frequently forty feet 

 high, and the plant dies as soon as it 

 has done flowering. The Aloe is a 

 native of Mexico, and the other 

 tropical parts of America ; but it 

 has been almost naturalised in the 

 south of Europe. In its native 

 country a strong spirit is distilled 

 from its sap ; the fibres of its leaves 

 are used for thread, and the feculent 

 matter contained in its stem, for 

 soap ; an excellent starch is also 

 made from it. 



; Age'ratum. ■ — Compositce. — 

 Mexican annuals, with curious heads 

 of small pale-blue flowers. The 

 seeds should be sown in a warm 

 border, in a light soil, in AprU, 

 or on a hot-bed in February. 



Agroste'mma. — CarTjophylldcece. 

 — The Kose Campion. — This genus, 

 and that of Lychnis, have been so 

 strangely mixed up together, that it is 



