30 



Greeuhuune and tilucc Plant.<. 



They may be wintered anywhere out of 

 the reach of frost, say under a greenliouse 

 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. prcccox. Has blue flowers, distinctly 

 suffused with purple. A much scarcer 

 plant than the old species. 



A. umhellatus. The best known sort, 

 bearing large umbels of dark blue flowers. 



A. umhellatus candidus. A pure white 

 sort. A decided improvement on the old 

 white form. 



A. umhellatus florepleno. A double 

 form of A. umhellatus, \\dth deep blue 

 flowers. A fine kind. 



A. umhellatus variegatus. A variegated 

 form, with prettily marked leaves. 



The species come from the Cape of 

 Good Hope, A. umhellatus 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. 



AGATH^A CCELESTIS. 



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 ofl" in sandy loam, and 

 growing on afterwards as ordinary green- 

 house plants. There is a variegated form 

 of the plant, A. coelestis variegata, which 

 succeeds under treatment similar to that 

 given to the original species. 



Insects.— If affected with aphides or 

 thrips, fumigate or dijj 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 lieating plant-houses was by 

 the old smuke flue, with its drying in- 

 fluences on the atmosphere of the house 

 Avhere 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 pio- 

 verbial. They wiU stand, when at rest, a 

 tempeiature anything short of frost, but 

 thrive fastest when kept in a warm but 

 dry atmosphere during the growing season. 

 They require no shade, except such as may 

 be needful to prevent the leaves being 

 bTirnt through inequalities in the roof of 

 the house where grown. Some of the 

 species attain a large size, paiticularly 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 anywhei'e where a 

 little warmth is available ; if sucli is not 

 at hand they will succeed in an ordinary 

 greenhouse. The pots should be comjiara- 

 tively small, proportionately to the size of 

 the suckers, and they must be thoioughly 

 drained, as anything approaching a stag- 

 nant condition of the soil is fatal to the 



