14! SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Silesia and other parts of Germany : A. decorus Fries, A, 

 fusipes Bull, A. gambosus Fries, A. procerus Scop., A. scorodo- 

 nius Fries, A. silvatieus Schaef ., A. virgineus Wulf ., A. volemus 

 Fries, besides the almost cosmopolitan A. campestris Linn^. 

 Mushroom beds are best made from horse-manure, mixed with 

 ^ loam, the scattering of the spawn (spores) to be efEected 

 when the temperature of the hot-bed has become reduced to 

 85° F., the sowing of the mushroom fragments to be made 

 3 inches deep and 4 inches apart ; one inch sifted loam over 

 the damp bed and some hay to cover the whole. After two 

 months, mushrooms can be gathered from the bed. In Japan 

 mushrooms are reared on decayed spUt logs. PufE balls are 

 also edible and some of them delicious (Meehan) . 



Agaricus flammeus, Fries. 



In Cashmere a large and excellent edible mushroom (Dr. 

 Aitchison). 



Agaricus ostreatus, Jacquin, 



On trunks chiefly of deciduous trees throughout Europe. The 

 delicious Oyster Mushroom, renowned since antiquity (Fries) . 



Agave Americana, Linne. 



The gigantic Aloe of Central America. It comes here into 

 flower in about ten years. The pithy stem can be utilised for 

 some of the purposes for which cork is usually employed, — for 

 instance, to form the bottoms of insect-eases. The honey- 

 sucking birds and the bees are very fond of the flowers of this 

 prodigious plant. The leaves of this and some other Agaves, 

 such as A. Mexicana, furnish the strong Pita-fibre, which is 

 adapted for ropes, and even for beautiful textile fabrics. The 

 strength of ropes of this fibre is considerably greater than that 

 of hemp ropes, as well in as out of water. The leaves contain 

 saponin. The sap can be converted into alcohol, and thus the 

 " Pulque " beverage is prepared from the young flower-stem. 

 "Where space and circumstances admit of it, impenetrable 

 hedges may be raised in the course of some years from Agaves. 



Agave rigida. Miller. (A. Ixtli, Karwinsky.) 



Yucatan. The Chelem, Henequen, and Sacci of the Mexicans, 

 furnishing the Sisal hemp. Drs. Perrine, Scott, and Engel- 

 mann indicate several varieties of this stately plant, the fibre 

 being therefore also variable, both in quantity and quality. 

 The yield of fibre begins in four or five years, and lasts for 

 half a century or more, the plant being prevented from flower- 

 ing by cutting away its flower stalk when very young. The 



