REMARKS ON THE ALOE. 201 



This year I am following out a plan with some seedling Pelargo- 

 niums which were sown last season, about the end of July, viz., 

 having given them a cool greenhouse all winter, I have them now 

 planted out in pots in the open border, where they are growing most 

 luxuriantly, but as yet without showing any flower buds. As the 

 season advances, and before the cold weather sets in, I shall remove 

 them to the greenhouse, where I expect them to flower before winter. 



I have also many seedling Fuchsias of last season's sowing, but 

 none of them have any indication as yet, nor do I expect them to 

 flower this season. Thus the greenhouse must be occupied with 

 seedling plants, which may turn out to be such as I would never 

 think to occupy a border in the garden with in summer, far less 

 crowding greenhouses with in winter, to the detriment of other and 

 finer plants. So a few hints from " An Amateur Florist " will oblige, 

 also, 



Edinburgh. An Amateur. 



[We trust our correspondent, " an Amateur Florist," will comply 

 with the request. If our Edinburgh correspondent will take care to 

 have flowers of fine form as parents, the produce, no doubt, will be 

 so in shape. Our Fuchsias, Verbenas, and other plants, seed sown 

 in February, bloom by June following. — Conductor.] 



ARTICLE III. 



REMARKS ON THE ALOE. 



BY SENEX. 



The derivation of this name is uncertain. Beginning with the syl- 

 lable al, it is, perhaps, of Arabian origin ; especially as the plant is 

 much venerated in the East. In the Hebrew, a cognate language, it 

 is called ahaluh ; some derive Aloes from the Greek als (the sea) ; 

 others from the Latin, adolendo ; but this can only refer to the Aloe- 

 wood, which is used in sacrifices for its fragrance. On the whole it 

 is probable the name was first applied to the Aloe-wood, and hence 

 transferred to the common Aloes on account of their bitterness. Its 

 medicinal virtues were made known to us by Dioscorides, the physi- 

 cian of Cleopatra; and it is also mentioned by Plutarch. The name 

 Aloe is retained by all the European nations. 



From the specimens we are in the habit of seeing in this country, 



s 2 



