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 blooming 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 America horticulture. This plant is supposed to be about eighty years old, having been purchased of Prince & Co., 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 flower-stem made its appearance early last spring, and has continued to grow until it reached its present height, about eighteen feet. The flowers are now rapidly opening, all the plant has the appearance of an immerse 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 flowers. On the right, four of the flowers, and flower-buds are shown about one-half their natural size. In two, the stamens and the pistil have not appeared, and in the centre figure they are fully developed, while in the fourth they are decaying. The Agaves are not 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 wonderful or admirable.
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. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Our First Hundred Years (C. Edwards Lester)