Book Description

Excerpt from Our First Hundred Years: The Life of the Republic of the United States of America, Illustrated in Its Four Great Periods: Colonization, Consolidation, Development, Achievement The hlmming of the great striped-leaved Agave, or Century-plant, at Messrs. Frost Co.'s, Rochester, N. Y., is quite a noteworthy event in the history of American horticulture. This plant is supposed to be about eighty years old, having been purchased of Prince C0, Flushing, L. I., in 1809. It was then about ten years old, and has escaped all the mishaps that usually fall to the lot of such tender plants until reaching a sufficient size and age to bloom. Quite a number of the common Century-plant (agave Americana) have bloomed in the Northern States within the past half century, but this, we believe, is the first instance where the striped-leaved variety has done so consequently, it is quite a novelty. The ower stem made its appearance early last spring, and has continued to grow until it reached its pre sent height, about eighteen feet. The owers are now rapidly opening, and the plant has the appearance of an immense chandelier. An idea of the general appearance of the plant may be had from the left-hand figure in the accompanying engraving. The centre figure shows the plant on a larger scale, with a small portion of the stem, with two clusters of the owers. On the right, four of the owers and ower-buds are shown about one-half their natural size. In two, the stamens and pistil have not appeared, and in the centre figure they are fully developed, while in the fourth they are decaying. The Agaves are riot what we would call beautiful plants; for they are too coarse and rugged in appearance, but there is a stateliness about them, especially when in bloom, that commands our admiration. Even the name of the genus (agave) is derived from a Greek word, which signifies something wonder ful or admirable - Hearth and Home, September 4, 1869. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."