72 OENAMENTAL POLUGB PLANTS. 



plants, seldom exceeding two feet in height. Besides being- . 

 fine ornamental plants for in-door decoration, the larger- 

 grov^ing kinds are unquestionably the finest objects for 

 the embellishment of terrace walks, or surmounting flights 

 of steps in the open air during the summer season, and 

 also for plunging in rock -work, or about any rustic nooks- 

 in the pleasure grounds, as in such situations they are 

 quite in keeping, and thrive admirably. The Agave ameri- 

 cana and its varieties (American Aloes as they are popularly 

 called), are many of them familiar plants, and bear the 

 character of blooming only once in a hundred years. This 

 seems extraordinary, but is to some extent true, for they 

 attain maturity very slowly, but when this condition is 

 reached, the plant sends up a flower spike, and after per- 

 fecting this dies, on account of the flower stem being the 

 terminal bud, and from its great size completely exhausting 

 the plant. It would, therefore, be equally true to assert 

 that they bloom only once in a thousand years', but to 

 imagine that they require -to grow a hundred years before 

 flowering is certainly fallacious, although they are no- 

 doubt many years in arriving at a flowering state. There 

 is, however, another section of this genus, distinct fix)m 

 the americana group, which do not exhaust themselves 

 in their efibrts to reproduce their species, but even with 

 these the symmetry of the plant is gone, and in some 

 cases they never recover. The Agaves contain an immense 

 quantity of strong and valuable fibre, but on account of 

 their slow growth, it cannot be produced in snflicient 

 quantity to become an article of commerce. 



These plants sacoeed well potted in good loam and river 

 sand, to which may be added a little peat and leaf mould 

 for some of the smaller-growing kinds. The drainage 

 should be good, as they enjoy a liberal supply of water- 



