THE MAGAZINE 



OP 



HORTICULTURE- 



OCTOBER, 1838. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Some account of an Agave JlmericcLna, and a Cata- 

 logue of Plants in the Collection of J. W. Perry ^ Esq., Brook- 

 lyn, JY. Y. Communicated by Mr. J. W. Paulsen, Gar- 

 dener to Mr. Perry. 



I HAVE under my management, here, a fine plant of the Agave 

 americana, some account of which, I presume, will be interest- 

 ing to your readers. The plant 1 procured of Mr. Cohen, an 

 amateur gardener in Philadelphia, and, from its large size, I am 

 in hopes that I shall be able to bloom it in the course of the next 

 year, or, at least, the year after. 



There are two reasons, I apprehend, why this plant has so 

 rarely been in flower, in the northern parts of Europe or in 

 America; first, that the plants are not kept in a growing state 

 only part of the year, and are generally treated with the utmost 

 neglect; and, secondly, that many gardeners, having an impres- 

 sion (it being a prevalent idea,) that the Agave blooms only 

 once in the course of a hundred years, few exert themselves to 

 encourage the plant to make a rapid growth, thinking that the 

 period of its flowering is so far distant that they shall not have 

 the pleasure of seeing it during their lifetime. Both causes have 

 tended much to its not being oftener seen in collections. 



The plant in this collection is about thirty years of age, but 

 remarkably strong and healthy. I brought the plant from Phila- 

 delphia, on the 6th of June last, and immediately made prepara- 

 tions to plant it out in the open air. A circular bed was marked 

 out, thirty-six feet in circumference; the centre of it was elevat- 

 ed three feet higher than the edge, down to which it gradually 

 and evenly sloped. This was done to keep the bed dry in the 



VOL. IV. NO. X. 40 



