200 THE ASSOCIATIO'NS OF FLOWERS 
CHAPTER XXII. 
Aloe-Agave — Hedges formed of this Plant — Uses of 
Agave— Bridges made of Agave Fibre— Use of Agave 
in Manufacture of Paper — Ancient Mexican Manu- 
script— Pulque made from the Agave — Aloe — Use of 
the Aloe Plant by Mahometans — Aloe planted on Graves 
—Adaptation of Succulent Plants to Spots on which 
they grom— Cactus — 'Nutrition of Plants, 
But high in amphitheatre above. 
His arms the everlasting aloe threw. 
— Campbell. 
Under the general name of aloe are comprehended two 
distinct families of plants, the agave and the aloe. From 
the latter the drug so often employed in medicine is ob- 
tained. 
It was to a plant properly called agave, though usually 
termed aloe (the Agave Americana), that our forefathers 
attributed the remarkable faculty of flowering once in a 
hundred years. This was for many years commonly as- 
serted; but that great teacher, Time, has proved the 
assertion fabulous, and this may now be added to the list 
of popular errors, which the knowledge of later years has 
shown to be a long catalogue. The fact is that this is 
a plant of remarkably slow growth, and as ours is not its 
native climate, it attains with us its usual size and maturity 
much more gradually than in its own congenial clime. As 
it is very commonly planted in flower-pots, this slow growth 
is often seen ; for, even when in a flourishing condition, 
the agave or aloe only lengthens its prickly leaf by slow 
degrees, and seldom grows an inch in a year. When, 
