198 THE amateue's greenhouse 



pictorial features. The Variegated American agave is a noble 

 conservatory and terrace plant. A. applanata, A. horrrida, 

 A. filifera, A. ensiformis, and A. scliidigera are distinct and 

 fine. Agaves are usually starved out of character owing to 

 the prevailing notion that they can live on sunshine alone. 

 Of light indeed they must have plenty, but they must also 

 have a good body of soil to root in, and during the growing 

 season plenty of water. A mixture consisting of turfy loam 

 three parts, and one part each of sharp grit and leaf mould 

 will suit them all, and the drainage must be perfect. If they 

 can be allowed to make the whole of their growth in the open 

 air, say from the first of June to the first of September, they 

 will be the handsomer and healthier for it, but they will do 

 very well under glass all the summer if allowed plenty of 

 light and air. During winter they should be kept quite dry 

 and have enough heat to secure them against frost. If by 

 any accident the leaves are wetted in winter raise the tempera- 

 ture of the house to dry off the moisture, for if it is allowed to 

 lodge for any length of time black spots will result and these 

 will in time become ugly holes. Propagation is easily effected 

 by means of suckers. Young plants must have regular shifts 

 to promote growth, but large specimens may be kept in the 

 same pots or tubs for several years. If pots sufficiently large 

 can be obtained they are to be preferred to tubs, and it will be 

 well to remember that overpotting is no advantage, and the 

 size of the pot, may, as a rule, be determined by its ability 

 to carry the plant without toppling over. Large plants should 

 be repotted every three years at least, and the simplest way to 

 do is to tie the plant carefully and securely and then to cut it 

 through just above the roots and then plant the top with its 

 short stump in a well prepared pot of fresh soil one or two 

 sizes smaller than the pot or tub it was taken out of. If this 

 is done in the early part of June, the plant may be put out of 

 doors in a sunny place, and will make new roots directly and 

 be well established in the new pot long before winter. The 

 next year it may be shifted into a pot one size larger : the 

 next year it need not be shifted and the next it may be shifted 

 again, and it may be cut off as before and potted in a com- 

 paratively small pot. 



The flowering of an agave is an important event, and one 

 may wait so long for it that " they say " it flowers only once 

 in a hundred years. This is a fiction founded on fact. lu 



