AGAVE AMERICANA. 101 



in a hard sharp point (as sharp as a needle), about 

 half or three quarters of an inch in length, and in 

 appearance not unlike the nails of a beast of prey, a 

 hedge of this sort properly made is utterly impene- 

 trable by cattle, and indeed by man, unless he have 

 recourse to a hatchet or some other instrument, or to 

 fire. The same sort of aloe grows arid is turned to 

 the same uses in the south of Spain. In many 

 parts of Calabria and Sicily, geraniums of a great 

 size and myrtles grow spontaneously in these hedges, 

 mixed with aloes. The effect produced when the gera- 

 niums are in flower, both on the senses of sight and 

 smell, is delicious beyond description. Mr. Bullock * 

 measured several of the leaves of this plant growing 

 in Mexico, arid found them ten feet long, fifteen 

 inches wide, and eight thick. When in bloom its 

 flower stalk is twenty feet high, " expanding like 

 a rich candelabra, its arms clustered with yellow 

 flowers." The time of flowering is very uncertain ; 

 the generally received belief, that this plant vegetates 

 for a century ere it blooms and dies, is now con- 

 sidered to be erroneous. The period very much 

 depends on the climate in which it grows. It is 

 brought to maturity much more rapidly by the 

 vivifying heat of the tropical sun than when under 

 the influence of a colder temperature. In Mexico 

 the time of flowering varies from eight to eighteen 

 years. The fibrous parts of the leaves are made into 

 strong twine or thread in that country, and made up 

 into rope which is most commonly used in the 

 mines ; and on the western coast it is employed as 

 rigging for ships. This plant is indigenous to 

 Mexico, and is likewise an object of extensive culti- 

 vation there ; but the large plantations which abound 

 in that country are not reared solely for the sake of 

 * Six Months in Mexico. 



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