ALOES. 93 
Asparagus continues in season till about the end of 
June. 
It is usually raised from seed, in beds formed for the 
purpose : and the plants should remain three years in 
the ground before they are cut : after which, for seve- 
ral years, they will continue to afford a regular annual 
supply. During the winter, they are secured from the 
effects of frost by the beds being covered some inches 
thick with straw or litter. 
In the cutting of asparagus, the knife is passed three 
or four inches beneath the ground. The plants are 
cut by sloping the blade upward ; and the white part 
that we see, is that which had not previously been ex- 
posed to the air. The smallest plants are suffered to 
grow for the purpose of producing berries to re-stock 
the beds, and keep them continually in a state of supply. 
106. ALOES are an extensive tribe of plants, some of 
which are not more than a few inches, whilst others are thirty 
feet and upwards, in height. All the leaves are fleshy, thick, 
and more or less spinous at the edges or extremity. 
These plants, which are chiefly inhabitants of hot climates, 
have flowers of a single petal, the mouth expanded^ the base 
nectariferous, and the fllaments of the stamens inserted into 
the receptacle. 
Some of the larger kinds of aloes are of great im- 
portance to the inhabitants of countries in which they 
grow. Beset as the leaves are with strong spines, they 
form an impenetrable fence. The negroes of the 
western coast of Africa make ropes and weave nets of 
the fibrous part of these leaves. The Hottentots hol- 
low out the stems of one of the kinds into quivers for 
their arrows. In Jamaica, there is a species of aloe 
which supplies the inhabitants with bow-strings, fishing 
lines, and materials from which they are able to weave 
stockings and hammocks. An aloe which grows in the 
kingdom of Mexico is applied by the inhabitants to 
almost every purpose of life. It serves as hedges for 
enclosures : its trunk supplies the place of timber for 
