Proceebixgs of the Farmers' Club. 411 



Centuet Plant. 

 Mr. E. A. Frost, of Rochester, New York, sends photographs of 

 the American aloe, or century plant, now abloom npon his premises, 

 and the subjoined interesting historical account of the singular flower : 

 " The American aloe, or century plant, is a native of Mexico and 

 South America, and has been introduced into some of the warmer 

 parts of Europe and the United States, where it has been cultivated 

 in green-houses. Accounts give us descrij^tions of the flowering of 

 tins majestic plant in several localities, among which may be men- 

 tioned one in Devonshire, England, wliich had a flower stem twenty- 

 seven feet high, its branches being loaded with 16^00 blossoms ; also 

 one at Cornwall, England, which flowered in 1837, and had flowers 

 of a sulphur yellow color, above five inches in length, to the number 

 of 5,088. The flower buds appeared the last of June, and on the 

 21st July, there were thirteen lateral and alternate branches thrown 

 out, at the extremity of which there were numerous clusters of flower 

 buds, measuring from fourteen to eighteen inches across. On the 

 7th of September the flower stem was twenty-five feet high, and had 

 thirty-four arms or branches, besides a cluster of flower buds on the 

 top of the stem. By the middle of October the lowermost clusters 

 were in great perfection, and remained in bloom until Christmas. 

 Erom the 10th of October to the middle of November, the stately 

 appearance of the plant, with its gracefully curved branches expand- 

 ing like beautiful candelabra, and sustaining such a number of erect 

 blossoms and buds, the flowers beautifully succeeding each other, 

 presented to the eye a spectacle highly gratifying. As the flower- 

 stalks grew and the flowers expanded, it seemed to exhaust the plant, 

 and the leaves drooped and rapidly withered, but the stalk remained 

 green and took several months to get dry. The century plant now 

 about to flower on my premises, is the Agav Americana folia 

 variegata, or striped-leaved American aloe. It is now about seventy 

 years old, and was purchased by the late Hon. John Greig, of Can- 

 andaigua, New York, in the year 1809, from Prince's Garden, Flush- 

 ing, Long Island, and at that time was supposed to be nine or ten 

 years old. On the 25th of April last, indications of its flowering 

 were observed, and its daily advance is carefully noted." 



A Snow OF Black Caps. 

 Mr. A. S. Fuller exhibited several plates of this fruit, which has 

 just replaced the strawberry. Lum's Everbearing was very large and 



