[Illustration]
An American Aloe (_Agave Americana_) is one of the most superb
exhibitions in the whole vegetable kingdom. The plant, when vigorous,
rises upwards of twenty feet high, and branches out on every side,
forming a kind of pyramid, of greenish yellow flowers, in thick clusters
at every joint. We often meet with the aloe in our conservatories, and
it has been known to flourish in the open air. A Correspondent of the
_Gardener's Magazine_, writing from Gwrich Castle, Abergelay,
Denbighshire, tells us that "about eight years back he pulled down one
of his hot-houses, in which stood a large American Aloe, known to be 68
years of age. It was in a box about two feet square, and the plant was
so large that he determined not to put it in the new house then
building; it was, in consequence, placed alongside the south wall in the
corner (not expecting it to live,) where it has been ever since, never
having been watered in summer, nor matted nor attended to in winter, and
it is now as vigorous and as healthy (if not more so) than before. The
box was not buried in the ground, and is now falling to pieces. The
garden is about 100 yards from the sea."
It is no fable that the Aloe grows about a hundred years (a few more or
less) before it blooms; and, after yielding its seed, the stem withers
and dies. If we remember right, a beautiful specimen in full bloom, was
exhibited three or four years since at the Argyll Rooms, in Regent
Street.
It may be as well to mention that the sharp-pointed leaves have been
known to inflict serious injury. In the _Lancet_, No. 313, vol.
ii., a case is recorded of a young gardener, who whilst watering some
plants in a gentleman's garden, at Camberwell, accidentally struck his
hand against an aloe plant, one of the prickles of which passed into the
last joint of his lefthand little finger; he regarded the circumstance
at the time as but of trifling consequence, on account of its causing
him but slight inconvenience; neither were the effects worth notice
until two days after the accident, when the part put on a white
appearance, and the finger became very stiff, swollen, and painful;
these symptoms increased, and by the following morning the whole hand
and arm, as far as the elbow, had attained an exceedingly large size.
After suffering about two months, the poor fellow was removed into St.
Thomas's Hospital, where the diseased arm was amputated by Mr. Travers,
and the patient soon recovered his accustomed good health.
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