February 16. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
381 
different system of management must, therefore, be 
adopted; but out-of-doors it will bo desirable they 
should be, from the middle of May, or earlier, 
until the middle of October, if the autumn is line. 
Where room in a greenhouse or orangery, &c., cannot 
be given, a warm shed, stable, &e., should be secured, 
and a small truck with wheels would assist the moving 
of the plants. The successful wintering, in the above 
supposed circumstances, will greatly depend on the soil 
being rather dry before housing. To secure this, means 
should be resorted to for throwing the autumn rains 
past the soil. No frost above a few degrees, better none 
at all, should touch the plant. In severe weather they 
may be covered up, top and tub, with dry hay, freed 
from its seeds. In a mild winter, or during mild days, 
if the place in which they are wintered be dark, they 
will relish being wheeled to the door during the heat ot 
the day. No water will be wanted at the roots until 
placed in the light next spring. The leaves, if at all 
dirty, may have a sponge drawn along them, as the 
cleaner they are the better will they look and thrive. 
As the sun gains strength in June, the plants will want 
water rather liberally, and manure-water may then be j 
given alternately with advantage, or if that is not con¬ 
venient, a mulching of rich compost may be substituted. 
By September, little or no more water will be required, 
and even rains should be kept from the soil as much as 
possible. This will render the large leaves firm and 
compact, and in this state they will stand much rougher 
treatment during the winter. 
LittjEA gemminiflora (Si/ii. Agave gemminiflora).— 
This is a very singular plant from Peru, which, although j 
requiring a greenhouse when young, and delighting in 
a higher temperature in its infantile state, will, when 
old and seasoned, prove, it is expected, as hardy as the 
Agave. Imagine a short, knobby stem, with number¬ 
less long, rush-like foliage proceeding from it; all of 
these, with the exception of the younger central ones, 
which are upright, have a pendulous, weeping charac¬ 
ter, so as to hang gracefully over the pot or tub, and 
you will form a good idea of the interesting appearance 
, of the plant, even though you should seldom see its 
splondid llower-stem issuing from the centre of the 
i foliage, and rising, like a huge tapering-to-a-point bottle¬ 
brush, to a height of from twelve to thirty feet, the 
greenish-yellow ilowers, with the stamens and pistil 
standing freely out beyond the petals, averaging three 
! inches in length, and produced in succession along the 
! sides of the stem. 
The plant was named in compliment to a Milanese 
nobleman. It was introduced more than titty years ago; 
and, so far as I am aware, bloomed first in this country at 
j Mr. Knight’s exotic nursery in 1826, the llower-stem ap¬ 
pearing in the middle of August, and reaching fourteen 
feet in height by the middle of November. I think it is 
very likely that plants may be found in the same esta¬ 
blishment. It had bloomed previously in the continent, 
and plants had been raised from its seeds. A specimen 
bloomed at Brussels, in 1837, the flower-stem reaching 
the height of thirty feet, and having from 1000 to 1500 
flowers. Two years ago, a small, healthy specimen 
bloomed in the Botanic Garden, at Chelsea, the flower- 
stem, in November, reaching the height of eleven feet. 
It had been kept in a greenhouse for several years, 
receiviug the usual treatment given to Aloes and plants 
of that character. In all the instances of its blooming, 
with which I am acquainted, tho flower-stems have 
made their appearance in autumn, and reached their 
culminating point before mid-winter. It would seem, 
therefore, that the heat and the light of a summer’s sun 
were necessary to the maturation of the plant. If, then, 
it was desirable to bloom this plant at an early period, 
a leaf must be taken out of the modern successful 
Pine-grower’s book, and thus accomplish rapid growth 
and early maturity. I can recollect huge Pine plants 
standing in pits, and producing fair fruit when they had 
received some half-a-dozen-of-years’ attention. But 1 
havo seen as fine fruit on little squat plants,—such, 
for instance, as at Trentham,—the plants being scarcely 
eighteen months from the sucker. Although this plant 
would not need the same amount of heat as the 
Pine; still, a higher temperature than tho greenhouse, 
with abundance of light and air, would hasten its period 
of maturity, and this latter would lie still farther done 
by abundance of light, and reducing the water to a 
minimum in summer before tho plant was wanted to 
show in tho autumn. When the plant is more generally 
diffused, and even flower-stems from six to ten feet in 
height duly appreciated, there will be means taken 
to make it bloom early. The simplest culture will suit 
it. It can be raised from ripe seeds, hut is generally 
propagated by suckers. It delights in saudy-loam a little 
enriched. In winter it will require little water, and in 
summer weak manure-waterings will be acceptable. The 
temperature of the greenhouse will be quite sufficient, 
unless when it is desirable to rattle it on when young. 
Puorcroya gigantea. — Another commemorative 
plant, and resembling an Agave in appearance. It has 
been introduced 160 years, but has seldom been seen 
in flower. It bloomed at Walcot, in Shropshire, in 
1821. It requires similar treatment to an Agave. 
Euorckoya long/eva is, like Gigantea , from South 
America, and a still more wonderful species. Its specific 
name may have reference to the slow rate at which it 
grows, as the natives have a belief that it flowers once 
in 400 years. It was found on Mount Tanga, in the 
province of Oaxaca, in Mexico, at the elevation ot 
10,000 feet; and, therefore, deemed hardy enough to 
stand our climate, at least, in the southern counties. 
Several plants were introduced in 1833; so that we 
may wait long until we see one of its wonderful 
flower-stems at home, if the tale of the natives be true. 
Without that splendid appendage, if found hardy, it 
would constitute a fine addition to rugged and rocky 
scenery. Its clean, upright stem would resemble an 
oldish plant of Yucca aloeifolia, but the large cluster of 
long sedge-like leaves on the top, differing from the 
upright foliage of the Yucca, has a drooping, pendulous 
position. From the centre of this mass of foliage the 
wonderful flower-stem rises. Baron Harwinske found 
specimens, with clean cylindrical stems, twelve to 
eighteen inches in diameter, and forty leet in height, 
and then a flower-stem reaching another forty feet. The 
appearance of a graceful, finely-formed Spruce Fir of 
that'height, forty feet, raised upon the top of a clean 
pole some forty feet high, with a huge coronet of droop¬ 
ing sedgy foliage at tho point of junction; only sup¬ 
posing that that tree was a mass, not of green leaves, 
but of white blossoms, would give no bad idea of this 
wonderful llower-stem It would he interesting to know 
what progress the plants in this country have made. 
Yucca. —The whole of this genus is of easy culti¬ 
vation, rejoicing in deep sandy loam, and all are hardy 
enough for England, with the exception, perhaps, of 
aloeifolia, which, especially when the stems got to a great 
height, might have a little protection in winter. The 
genus is as striking among Lily worts as thoso already 
referred to are among Amaryllids. I saw 1 ucca 
ghriosa in bloom, in several places last season. The 
beautiful, low-growing filamentosa, that throws up a 
flower-stem of from five to seven feet, is always a 
wolcomc sight in any position. Taken as a whole, 
however, the plants of the genus, all of them inter¬ 
esting, make little show when grouped together; and 
neither do they harmonise with fine architectural or 
symetrical lines. Sparingly introduced, they make a 
striking appearance from contrast. For instance, a huge 
bush of Gloriosa is rather a taking object on a well-kept 
