GEEEX- HOUSE PLANTS. 



69 



to the natural order AmaryUidacece, and may be di- 

 vided into two sections — ^one of wliieh produces a 

 ramose flower-scape thirty or forty feet high, resem- 

 bling a large candelabrum, of which A. Americana 

 gives an apt illustration ; the second section, of which 

 A. Jilifera may be taken as a type, produces a simple 



flowered at an earlier date, but it would appear that 

 these reports were incorrect, and refer to smaller 

 species which had been introduced under the name of 

 " American Aloes ; " and instances of their flowering 

 are still so rare that w^hen such a fact is announced 

 it never fails to attract a large concourse of visitors. 



Agave pilifera. a, flo'.ver; b, end of leaf. 



scape only, on which the flowers are usually densely 

 crowded towards the upper part. In the case of the 

 first section, death invariably ensues after flowering ; 

 ( but in the other, plants do sometimes survive the 

 flowering state, when the spike is produced from a 

 lateral and not the terminal bud. The American 

 Agave appears to have first flowered in England 

 about the year 1729. It had been reported to have 



The cultivation of Agaves is extremely simple; 

 in fact, no class of plants can be managed so 

 easily. The flrst essential is thorough drainage, 

 without which these plants wiU. soon take on a 

 sickly yellow hue and rapidly die ; but di-ain the pots 

 well, use stiff j-ellow loam for the large-growing 

 kinds, and a rather lighter loam for the less robust, 

 and that is all that is required in the way of soiL 



