380 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February JO. 
the pots being so small one need not mind filling the 
centre with cuttings, but only a row round the side, and 
as near to each other as thoy will stand without touching 
each other. 
Here, then, is a great advantage for breaking in 
the youngsters; a pot brimful must be very care¬ 
fully watered, else all is over; but the sand takes in 
enough by little and little, and they can never overdo 
the watering; the small pot never gets too much bottom- 
heat, and the roots all at the sides of the pot will run 
down faster than by any other way, and when the 
plants are ready for potting off there is no fear of 
breaking roots. When wo have to place a cutting-pot 
inside one that is a little larger, the smaller the outside 
one is the better, if it gives head-room to the cuttings 
under the square of glass; and it often happens that 
pots do not match so near as to allow of this without 
having the cuttings lower in this cutting-pot than those 
in the last pot, but half-an-inch below tho rim is the 
lowest I can afford for young apprentices to put in their 
first cuttings. 1 once had a man that 1 could never 
shame out of pressing the soil for these cuttings as he 
would for hard-wooded ones, and although he lost scores 
by his bad practice, he persisted, in spite of me, till one 
day, being out of all patience, 1 made him do what I 
never heard of before, but it answered very well indeed; 
it was to fill a pot with tho ooinpost, and put on a layer 
of the driest sand he could find, and not to press or 
water till after the cuttings were all planted; what with 
the trembling from his fright, and the trickling down of 
the dry sand in each hole before he could get in the 
cutting, it was an awkward job, but every one of the 
cuttings took, and from the two extremes he made a 
useful man after that, and he hit on a good new plan 
for cutting-pots and seedling-pots after that, which 1 
followed and found useful. It was to have a little 
hollow in the centre for holding all water each pot 
needed, and from this hollow the soil all round took up 
enough, without any falling heavily on the cuttings. 
D. Beaton. 
STRIKING, AND YET COMPARATIVELY 
NEGLECTED, PLANTS. 
Agave Americana (American Aloe).—This, according 
to a popular delusion, is the wonderful centenerarian, 
that will bloom only when a hundred years old. Many 
a mile has been tramped by young gardeners to see a 
good specimen in bloom. I have already done so, and 
would be tempted to repeat the pilgrimage to-morrow. 
A flower-stem, from twenty to thirty feet.in height, and 
with something above fifteen thousand blooms and 
buds, is a sight not easily forgotten. I once paid a 
shilling to seo a “ magnificent specimen” at the Egyptian 
Hall, Piccadilly, but it was such a Lilliputian, that 1 
have seen a Yucca Jilamentosa very little behind it. 
This genus, along with Olivia, Liltcea, and the won¬ 
derful Fuorcroya, &c., form a fibrous-rooted division of 
the group of Amaryllids. Tho species with which I 
have headed this article, and its variegated variety, as 
well as many other species, are met with pretty plenti¬ 
fully in the tropical parts of America. Americana is not 
only one of tho most luxuriant, but the most yielding to 
circumstances, as it is found equally at home in tho hot 
plains, and at an elevation of nine thousand feet. 
Hence, the plant is nearly as comfortable in the South 
of Europe as in the ceutral states of America. Nay, in 
Devonshire, it has been found to grow and bloom in tho 
open air without any protection. A plant at Saltcombe 
, Bay, six inches high, in 1804, was eleven feet in height 
in 1820, and that year threw up a flower-stem twenty- 
seven feet in height. 
Still, uuless iu very favourable positions, the plant 
will not enduro the open air in this country; and far less 
could it be cultivated, with advantage, for the uses to 
I which it is applied in more genial latitudes; such as 
forming impenetrable fences or hedges; yielding strong 
fibre, thread, and paper, from its macerated foliage; af¬ 
fording soap, by evaporating the expressed juice of the 
thick leaves; and giving abundance of a beer-like 
liquor, called pulque, by fermenting the juice that flows 
freely where the inner leaves are cut out just before the 
flower stems appear. A strong spirit is also distilled 
from this pulque. 
I know nothing of the amount of fibrous matter derived 
from this source, or whether or not it could he greatly 
augmented. Doubtless, there are many things, such as 
the foliage of the Pine-apple, from which a great amount 
of useful fibre could be obtained. The needle-like foli¬ 
age of the Fir tribe is already being brought into useful 
requisition. I allude to this incidentally, having lately 
read that so much is a deficiency of fibre of any sort 
felt, that even the paper-makers are quite at their wits’ 
ends to obtain anything that will suit their purpose, the 
demand, owing to the vast quantity required for the 
cheap literature of the day, actually treading upon, if 
not exceeding, the supply; so much so, that ladies are 
besought not to waste a rag that by possibility could be 
converted into paper. Only think of a young lady, for 
the sin of waste or carelessness in this respect, being 
condemned to tell such ecstatic thoughts to the cold 
moon, instead of wafting them, on smooth hotpressed, 
to an atmosphere genial and reciprocal! 
I would merely, then, in general, recommend the 
culture of this Aloe for its somewhat grotesque interest 
and beauty. The variegated-leaved one is the most 
pretty, but it does not grow so strong and luxuriant, 
f’lie plants will never make an impression until they 
become somewhat gigantic in size; then, as sentinels 
to the entrance of a conservatory in summer, placed iu 
pairs by a terrace-walk, so as^not to interfere with the 
style of architecture, iu fact, in almost every possible 
position, they have a noble effect, and will not be very 
particular as to the care they require. I confess, that 
if I had such specimens in large tubs, I should not 
wish to lose them by their flowering. Did the blooming 
of these plants become a matter of importance, gar¬ 
deners would soon find the means of doing so, by rapid 
growth, and then early maturation. If a plant could 
be bloomed in the open air in Devonshire, the inference 
is obvious that it could be bloomed much earlier when 
all the advantages of house-treatment were bestowed. 
What has been stated of the localities iu which the 
plant is found furnishes the key-note to its treatment. 
It is generally propagated by suckers. These, when 
taken off, and firmly potted iu sandy loam, and a little 
lime rubbish, will grow quickest if placed in bottom-beat, 
and furnished with as high a temperature as would suit 
a Pine-apple. They will grow, butmore slowly, in a green¬ 
house. In fact, before the plants become large they will 
get on best in the hothouse, though that need not dis¬ 
courage those having only a greenhouse. Iu either case, 
when the plants come, after repeated shiftings, to fill a 
12 or 16-inch pot, they will be best out-of-doors for a 
couple of the hottest months. By the time a tub or 
a box isnecossary for them, some nice fibry loam should 
bo obtained, enriched with dried nodules of cow'-dung, 
and a fair portion of lime rubbish, and some bits of 
charcoal, to keep tho whole in rather an open state. 
It will be desirable to shift them not later than tho 
end of May, that tho roots may ramify freely during 
the summer. It will also be necessary to keep tho 
collar of tho plant well up; as if there is much soil 
below the bottom of the ball it will be sure to sink. 
After this, the Agaves, however desirable they be out- 
of-doors, will be looked upon as downright intruders 
did they want the inside of stove or greenhouse. A 
