Januavy, 1859. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
17 
body warm for a week, will suffer more wear and 
irritation than if required only to digest 100 lbs. 
Test the matter in whatever way you will, by 
sound reasoning from well known laws and prin¬ 
ciples, or by thorough experiments, the conclu¬ 
sion will inevitably be, that warm clothing for our 
bodies, and warm shelter for both ourselves and 
animals is healthful and every way convenient. 
-- - —■ « - - 
Gardening. 
Driven in by the Winter’s cold from our beloved 
garden, may we not pause and drop a word in its 
praise ! The experience of another season has 
only the more confirmed us in our attachment to 
the pursuits of horticulture. This is an occupa¬ 
tion of which we seldom tire. The love of it grows 
upon us from year to year. In Spring, we watch 
with an increasing interest for the first upshoot- 
ing crocus and snow-drop, the first adventur¬ 
ous violet and daisy. Even in mid-summer, when 
almost everything else fails, the garden seldom 
fails to enliven us; and when Autumn comes, 
with its wealth of gorgeous flowers and its rich 
fruits, we can ask for nothing more. Even at 
the approach of Winter, when our trees and plants 
are stripped of leaf and flower by the frost, what 
more pleasing employment than, like a good moth¬ 
erly nurse, to prepare them for their Winter’s 
sleep 1 
Wrap up this delicate one in a blanket of clean 
straw ; lay that flexible one upon the bosom of 
mother earth, and cover it with leaves, and a lit¬ 
tle soil to keep the wind from blowing off its man¬ 
tle. before you finally cover up those herbaceous 
plants, just draw away the earth a little, and see 
what fine strong buds are forming about the 
crowns of the roots, ready to shoot up at the ear¬ 
liest breath of Spring. But cover them all up 
now, and leave them to the sleep Nature designs 
for them. Yonder ever-blooming roses, natives 
of a warmer latitude, don’t neglect them now, 
after they have greeted you with flowers all the 
Summer; let them lie close upon the warm 
ground, in a nest of forest leaves, with a cover¬ 
ing of boards to keep out the wet. And those 
other rare trees and shrubs, which have diffused 
the air of different climes in your northern gar¬ 
den, don’t forget to bank up their stems, and to 
open a little trench to carry off all surplus water 
from their roots. You did well to put some stakes 
around those newiy planted trees, and to tie them 
up with leather and hay bands to keep them from 
blowing about... .Well, we have now got all the 
sails reefed, and everything snug and trim, let the 
Winter winds blow; our dear garden is having a 
fine sleep, and nothing can harm it. 
But this is wandering. Let it, however, go to 
show where our heart is. Do you say, sir, that 
gardening, requires no intelligence! Please, 
prove that! The best gardens we ever saw were 
managed by very sensible men. It requires no 
little study to arrange one’s grounds well, then to 
plant and sow in the best manner, and to take 
care of the whole wisely through the whole sea¬ 
son. There arc those, indeed, with whom gar¬ 
dening is a mere stupid use of spade and hoe, 
an ignorant wear of bone and muscle, a drudgery 
unrelieved by a single flash of intelligence ; but 
these are not the men we here speak of. 
Do you say that horticulture exerts no good 
moral influence 1 Does it do no good to withdraw 
a man from scenes of temptation, and to surround 
him with the pure and beautiful works of God! 
The steady and cheerful employment of his time, 
which his garden requires, favors morality. It 
was for the idle boy, according to the catechism, 
that Satan found so much mischief to do. “ A 
wicked man,” says one, “ can not make a garden, 
for the very labor is so virtuous and beautiful that 
it will rebuke him, and the things he produces 
will preach him sermons on morality and virtue.” 
But hold 1 Let us not go on in this serious strain, 
as if our favorite pursuit were falling into neglect 
and dishonor, and needed an argument to uphold 
and defend it. Never before, we believe, was 
the earth covered with so many smiling gardens 
as now, and never before were there so many 
enthusiastic workers in them. 
. ----- 
American Aloe, or Century Plant. 
(Agave Americana.) 
We present above, an engraving of a plant 
which is truly “ wonderful ” as its name, Agave , 
signifies. It is called the Century riant, because 
it is popularly supposed to require one hundred 
years to arrive at the blooming state. This is 
not strictly so, for in its native home, in the trop¬ 
ical climates of the American Continent, it some¬ 
times blooms in ten years, under specially favora¬ 
ble circumstances, and usually in from thirty to 
sixty years. When cultivated in Northern cli¬ 
mates it seldom matures in less than eighty to a 
hundred or more years. It blooms but once. Hav¬ 
ing arrived at maturity, the plant sends up a gi¬ 
gantic flower stem, and then perishes. The num¬ 
ber of flowers is immense. An Agave plant in 
the Royal Botanic Society’s Garden, in Regent’s 
Park, London, commenced blooming last June, 
and in October contained full three thousand flow¬ 
ers ! This was supposed to be 120 years old. 
As grown in the hot-house at the North it con¬ 
tinues for many years with a short semi-woody 
stem. The leaves are hard, thick, fleshy, spiny 
and sharp pointed—of a bluish green color. These 
leaves continue for a long period, so that very 
few decay or are replaced until the plant is many 
years old. Except a very gradual enlargement of 
the stem and elongation of the leaves, the plant 
undergoes little change until it is ready to send 
out its flower stem. This stem shoots up quick¬ 
ly under favorable circumstances, often attaining 
the hight of 30 to 40 feet in its native locality, 
but seldom more than 10 to 15 feet in the house. 
The flower stem grows very rapidly after starting, 
and begins to bloom in about three months. In 
shape it appears like an enormous Candelabrum of 
pyramidal form, bearing on the extremity clusters 
of greenish yellow flowers which continue to be 
produced for two or three months in succession. 
Such is one of the wonderful plants with which 
our beautiful earth is beautifully adorned. 
Garden Vegetables, and their Origin. 
Enjoying as we do, a succession of healthful 
and delicious vegetables throughout the year, it 
is interesting to learn as much as possible of their 
origin and history. Some are natives, ( indigen¬ 
ous ,) hut many are foreigners, {exotics). We owe 
a debt of gratitude to those men who have lived 
before us and have introduced into our gardens 
these useful esculents. For the present, let us 
inquire into the origin of several of the most 
common vegetables. And first, 
The Cabbage. This was first found growing 
wild on the cliffs of the sea-coast, in the South 
of England. In its native state, the plant is small 
and the leaves are few. The inhabitants of the 
district called it sca-colewort. In this state it was 
known to the ancient Romans, and was esteemed 
highly as an article of food. One would hardly 
have supposed that the little, wild plant, weighing 
only about an ounce, would give origin to the 
bouncing cabbages of our gardens, weighing often 
from fifteen to twenty pounds. Cultivation has 
already produced many varieties of cabbage, and 
the end is not yet. In a catalogue before us, we 
notice that one seedsman advertises twenty-two 
sorts for sale. The cauliflower and broccoli be¬ 
long to the cabbage tribe; but they require more 
care in their management. The first named of 
these always reminds us of the saying of old Dr. 
Johnson, that “of all flowers, he admired none 
more than the cauli-flower !” 
Lettuce came from the coast of the Levant and 
from one of the islands of the Greek Archipelago, 
as the name of one of its varieties (the Cos.) indi¬ 
cates. It was introduced into England in the 
year 1562. In its wild state, it was only a weed, 
so bitter and so strongly-scented as to be dis¬ 
agreeable to the taste. Some sorts were even 
poisonous. It has now been run into many va¬ 
rieties. Lettuce has some of the medical prop¬ 
erties of opium, soothing the nerves and induc¬ 
ing sleep. It is one of the most cooling and agree¬ 
able salads for the table. 
The Tomato is a South American, and received 
its name from the Portugese colonists. It is of 
the same botanical family as the potato, ( solanum ,)* 
and is now about as widely diffused. No vegeta¬ 
ble has attained so great a popularity so suddenly. 
Twenty-five years ago, it was but little known, 
and much detested. Then shortly it was intro¬ 
duced into gardens as an ornamental plant, called 
“love-apple.” Then it became an ingredient in 
all sorts of pills and panaceas. Now, it is every¬ 
where cultivated as a delicious and healthy arti¬ 
cle of diet; it is served up raw and cooked, stew 
ed and seasoned, stuffed and fried, and roasted; 
is used as a pickle, a catsup and a sweetmeat, 
and is preserved in air-tight cans for Winter use 
It contains a cooling acid, and possesses some oi 
the medicinal qualities of calomel. Speaking ol 
its use abroad, Mr Loudon, says : “ Though a 
good deal used in England, in soups, and as a 
principal ingredient in a well-known sauce fot 
mutton, yet our estimation and uses of the fruit 
are nothing to Ihose of the French and Italians 
and especially the latter. Near Rome and Naples 
whole fields are covered with it; and scarcely a 
dinner is served up in which it does not, in some 
way or other, form a part.” 
The Beet root came from Southern Europe, and 
was first found growing wild on the shore of the 
Mediterranean Sea. It got its name in Greece 
from the resemblance of its seed-vessel when 
swollen, to the Greek letter, Beta. Most varie¬ 
ties contain a good deal of saccharine matter, and 
some of them so much, that in France, sugar is 
extensively manufactured from them. 
Turnips were found wild in England "nd Hoi- 
