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specimens belonging in this house and in the three following 
ones may be found during the summer in the beds in the 
conservatory court. 
House No. 6. This is also a desert house. On the 
corner benches is a collection of century plants (Agave), 
a large genus known only from the New World; other and 
larger plants of this same genus may be found in the central 
portion of the house. Conspicuous among these are: 
the thread-bearing agave, Queen Victoria’s agave, the 
sisal plant (Agave sisalana), and the common century 
plant (Agave americana). The first two are decorative 
and curious; from Agave sitsalana is manufactured the sisal 
hemp of commerce; the last, Agave americana, is well 
known, and it is from the sap of related species that the 
Mexican drink ‘‘pulque”’ is obtained by fermentation. 
It is popularly believed that the century plants flower but 
once in a hundred years, and then die; it is true that the 
plant dies when done blooming, but it blooms at a much 
earlier age than a century, sometimes when but eight or ten 
years old. The collection of West Indian agaves is espe- 
cially rich in species. 
A group of the dracaena family may be found in the 
central portion of this house. This comprises members 
of the genera Yucca and Dasylirion. A group of cacti 
may also be seen here, the most imposing figure of which 
is the giant cereus, Carnegiea gigantea, known as ‘‘sahuaro”’ 
by the Mexicans and Indians of its native country, Ari- 
zona and Sonora. The plants here shown were obtained 
by an expedition sent to those regions by the Garden in 
1902, and are the largest specimens in cultivation in the 
east. Several large specimens of the hedgehog cactus, 
secured at the same time, form part of this group; the 
Indians in the desert plten secure a supply of drinking 
water from these plants by cutting off the top and macer- 
ating the interior substance. 
Houses Nos. 7 and 8 are wholly occupied by the cactus 
family. The collections here have been greatly enriched 
