Gardening in Californi 



inches at the base. The flower-scape makes a growth of six 

 inches every twenty-four hours, drawing its sustenance seem- 

 ingly from the thick large fleshy leaves. As the flower-stalk 

 grows in height, the leaves gradually become thin and flabby until 

 the flower-scape attains its full height, when the leaves are com- 

 pletely drained of all sap and flesh and become shriveled, lifeless 

 pieces of fibre, all the life and sap having been taken up and used 

 by the plant in forming its wonderful flower-stalk. After per- 

 fecting the flower, and ripening its seeds, the whole plant dies to 

 the ground and is succeeded by a colony of suckers which form 

 about the roots of the old plant. These should be taken up late 

 in the Fall and planted in nursery rows about a foot or eighteen 

 inches apart, and should be grown on until large enough to be 

 planted out in permanent quarters. There is quite a large number 

 of interesting species belonging to this genus, some of them with 

 variegated leaves and others with rosette-like bunches of leaves 

 and of dwarf habit. 



ALOES. 



These interesting plants are 

 mostly natives of the Cape of Good 

 Hope, some of them becoming ar- 

 borescent and branched, and grow- 

 ing to the height of sixty feet. They 

 delight in a loose rocky soil and a 

 warm sunny situation, and require 

 little artificial irrigation. 



They are mostly of very slow 

 growth although Aloe ciliaris makes 

 several feet of growth in a sea- 

 son. Most of them bear red or 

 yellow flowers in stiff spikes, which, 

 combined with their rugged gro- 

 tesque habit, make them excellent for planting in dry rock- 

 eries, etc. r g , 



Aloe vera. 



