A L O 



Toward the latter end of September, in a dry day, re- 

 move them into the lioufe ag:iiM, ohAirviiig to give them 

 as much free open air aa ponible, while the weather cou- 

 tiiuies warm : but if the nights are eool, you mult Ihut up 

 the glaffes, and give them air only in the day ; and as the 

 cold increafes, you muft difcontinue opening the gliilies, 

 only giving them gentle waterings till the middle of Odo- 

 ber, when yon mult abate them according to the heat of 

 the houfe in which they are kept. For thofe plants wliieh 

 are placed in a ftove will require to be watered at leall 

 once a week, mod part of the W'iutcr, whereas thofe 

 which are kc])t in a green-houfe, without artificial lieat, 

 fhould not be watered in the W^inter oftencr than once in 

 n month, and in Summer they (liould not receive too nuich 

 nioilture. 



The tender forts, as the vifcofa, ferox, and cobweb aloes, 

 fhould conftantly remain in the Itove, or be removed in the 

 Summer to an airy glafs-cafe, where they may have free air 

 in warm weather, but be protefted f-.om the rain and cold. 

 With this management tlie plants will tlu-ive and increafe ; 

 and fuch of them as ufually bear flowers, may be expccled 

 to produce them in beauty at their feafons. 



Moll of thefe aloes are increafed by off-fets, taken from 

 the parent plant when they are fliifted, and planted in fmall 

 fpots filled with the earth prepared for the old plants ; and 

 thefe fuckers (hould be quite dry when they are planted, 

 I otherwife they will rot. After remaining in the fhade for 

 a fortnight, the tender kinds (liould be removed to a veiy 

 moderate hot-bed, fhading the glalfes in the day, and giv- 

 ing them much air. Towards the middle of Auguft, the 

 young plants may be hardened by taking off the glades in 

 good weather, and admitting the air ; and they (hould be 

 removed into the houfe towards the end of September, and 

 managed like the old plants. The African aloes generally 

 afford plenty of fuckers for increafe : moll of the others 

 may be propagated by taking off fome of the under leaves, 

 laying them to dr)' for ten days or a fortnight, and then 

 planting them in the foil already mentioned, by putting 

 that part of the leaf which adhered to the old plant, about 

 an inch or an inch and a half, into the earth, and fettling 

 the earth about them with a little water : the pot (hould 

 then be plunged into a moderate hot- bed, preferved from 

 the fun, and refrellied with water once a week. The bed 

 feafon for this operation is June." The method of cultivat- 

 ing the aloe in the ifland of Barbadoes, defcribed in the 

 Medical Journal, (vol. viii. art. 8. p. 422.) is as follows. The 

 ilony and lliallow foil, which is in the vicinity of the fea, 

 and fubjeft to drought, and in which the fugar canes will 

 not thrive, bell fuits the aloe plant. When the ftones have 

 been picked up, and laid around the field as a fence, or 

 piled in heaps upon the mod barren fpots, the land is lightly 

 ploughed and cleared from weeds ; then lined in rows at 

 the dillance of a foot from one another, and the young 

 plants are fet like cabbages, about five or fix inches apart 

 from each other. By being thus fet, they are eafily kept 

 free from v7eeds, which would obtlru6l the produce. They 

 may be planted even in the dried feafon ; as they need 

 little or no rain ; but the ufual time is from April to 

 June. 



Aloe, African. Sec Crassula. 



Aloe, American. See Agave. 



Aloe, Bajlard. See Alutris. 



Aloe, Purpurea. See Dracaena. 



Aloe, Uvaria. See Aletris. 



Aloe, JValer. See Stratiotes. 



Aloe, 7'ucca follis. See Yucca. 



A L O 



Aloes, in MeJi,inr awA Phannary, the infpilTated juice 

 of various fpecits of the Aloe above defcribed. Of this 

 there have been ufiuilly reckoned three kinds, wz. tlicyf-'O- 

 lor'hie, hepatic, and calallir.e. I. Socilirine alofs, fo called 

 from tlie ifland Socotora, from which it was firll brought, 

 though it was probably imported from the Cape by the 

 Dutch Ead India Company, is obtained from a variety of 

 the A. pt-rfolhila of Linnx'US. I'his fort is the purell and 

 molt tranfparent : it comes to us wrapt in (Icins, and is of 

 a bright fm-face, and in fome degree pellucid ; in the lump 

 of a yeilowifii led colour, with a purplifli call; when re- 

 duced into powder of a golden colour. It is hard and fri- 

 able in the Winter, fomewiiat pliable in the Summer, and 

 fofteus between the fingers. Its bitter tadc is accompanied 

 with an aromatic flavour, but not fufiicient to prevent its 

 being difagreeable ; the fmell is not very unpkafant, and 

 fomewhat refembles that of myrrh. 



2. Hepatic, Barladoes, or common aloes, is obtained from 

 another variety of the fame fpecics, viz. A. vera, "vulgaris, 

 foUrs fpinojis conf.rtis dciitatis •vuginaiilihus plants maciilatit, 

 called by Rheed kadanahu or calcvala, and reckoned by 

 La Marck a diftinft fpecies, and is afually brought to us 

 from Barbadoes ; that of the bell fort in large, gourd fliells, 

 an inferior kind in pots, and a ilill worfc in calks. It is 

 of a darker colour than the former, and not fo clear or 

 bright ; generally drier and more compaft ; of a dronger 

 and more difagreeable fmell, and of an intenfely bitter taile, 

 with little or nothing of the aromatic flavour of the other. 

 A traCl of mountains about 50 miles from the Cape of 

 Good Hope is wholly covered with the aloes plants, which 

 renders it unnecefTary to plant them there ; but they are 

 now cultivated in Jamaica and Barbadoes, having been fird 

 brought to the former of thefe illands trom Bermuda. They 

 require two or three years Handing before they yield their 

 juice in perfeiflion : and it is procured, fays Dr. Browne, 

 (Jamaic. p. 1 98.) in the following manner. The labourers 

 go into the field with tubs and knives, and cut off the 

 larged and mod fucculent leaves dole to the ftalk : thefe 

 they put into the tubs in an upright pofition, that the loofe 

 liquor may be drained from the wound. When this is a!" 

 mod wholly difcharged, the leaves are taken out fmgly, 

 and cleared of any juice that may adhere to them ; and the 

 liquor is put into fliallow flat-bottomed vcffels, and dried 

 gradually in the fun, till it acquires a proper confidence. 

 What is obtained in this manner is called focotorins aloes, 

 and is tiie cleared and mod tranfparent, as well as the 

 highed in edeem and value. In the ifland of Barbadoes-, 

 according to the account of Mr. Millington (Ptk-d. Journ. 

 vol. viii. p. 422.) after a fufficieut quantity is drained from 

 the leaves to m.ake it an objcft for the boiling-houfe, and 

 the juice with this view may be preferved for fome weeks, 

 without injury, three boilers of iron or copper arc placed 

 by one fire, though fome have two and others only one ; 

 thefe are filled with juice, and as it is gradually infpiflTated 

 by a regular fire, it is ladled from boiler to boiler, and freflt 

 juice is added to that which is farthcd from the fire, till the 

 juice in that which is neared to the fire, tae fmalleft of the 

 three, and called tatch, becomes of a proper confidence to 

 be (hipped or ladled out into gourds, or other fmall veffels, 

 placed for receiving it. The proper time for ladling it 

 out of the tatch is when it is arrived at a rcfin height, as it 

 is termed, or when it cuts freely, or in thin flakes from 

 the edges of a fmall wooden flice, that is dipped from time 

 to time into the tatch for that purpofe. A lilUe lime-water 

 is ufed by fome aloe-boilers during the procefs, when the 

 tbulUtion is too great. This author adds, as to the fun- 

 5 C 2 dried 



