8 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



" Cosi all' egro fanciul porgiamo aspersi 

 Di soavi licor gli orli del vaso : 

 Succhi amari, ingannato, intanto ei beve; 



E dall' inganno suo vita riceve." 



TASSO. 



So we (if children young diseased we find) 

 Anoint with sweets the vessel's foremost parts, 

 To make them taste the potions sharp we give : 

 They drink, deceived; and so deceived, they live. 



FAIRFAX'S TRANSLATION. 



It seems strange that any thing but the most imperative 

 necessity should induce a mother to use any means which 

 can render her an object of disgust to her child. 



The most remarkable of the Aloe tribe is the great Ame- 

 rican Aloe, named by botanists Agave, which name is de- 

 rived from the Greek, and signifies admirable, or glorious : 

 called by the French aloe en arbre [tree aloe], and also 

 pitte. The natural order in which it should be arranged 

 is uncertain. Bernard Jussieu placed it with the Narcissi, 

 and Anthony Jussieu with the Bromeliaceae. It is a native 

 of all the southern parts of America. " The stem generally 

 rises upwards of twenty feet high, and branches out on 

 every side towards the top, so as to form a kind of pyramid . 

 The slender shoots are garnished with greenish yellow 

 flowers, which come out in thick clusters at every joint, 

 and continue long in beauty ; a succession of new flowers 

 being produced for near three months in favourable sea- 

 sons, if the plant is protected from the autumnal cold. The 

 elegance of the flower, and the rarity of its appearance in 

 our cold climate, render it an object of such general cu- 

 riosity, that the gardener who possesses the plant an- 

 nounces it in the public papers, and builds a platform 

 round it for the accommodation of the spectators. The 

 popular opinions, that the aloe flowers but once in a cen- 

 tury, and that its blooming is attended with a noise like the 



