This is the century plant. In old English greenhouses it took a century for a plant to .flower. In its native country it flowers in about ten years, and, under culture, generally between this and a hundred, usually nearer the hundred than the ten. This one blooming is in the garden of Mr. George Casey, at Auburn, New York, and is a matter of great interest with the people there. It has pushed its flower stalk three feet above the roof of the greenhouse, being in all about eleven feet high. It will probably be ready to open its flowers about July 1st. Its present rate of growth is about three inches a day. It is believed to be about sixty-two years old. It has been in the family of the present owner about fifty years.

Having acquired its full growth, it finally produces its gigantic flower stem, after which it perishes. This stem at maturity is surrounded with a multitude of branches arranged in pyramid form, with perfect symmetry, and having on their points clusters of greenish yellow flowers, which continue to be produced for two or three months in succession. The native country of the American aloe is the whole of America within the tropics, from the plains, nearly on a level with the sea, to stations upon the mountains at an elevation of between 9,000 and 10,000 feet. From these regions it is sometimes transferred to other temperate countries.

Independently of its beauty and rarity, this plant is applicable to many useful purposes in warmer climes. Its sap may be made to flow by incisions in the stem, and furnishes a fermented liquor, called by the Mexicans, pulque. From this an agreeable ardent spirit called vino mercal is distilled. The fibers of its leaves form a coarse kind of thread, and they are brought to this country under the name of pita flax; the dried flowering stems are almost an impenetrable thatch; an extract of the leaves is made into balls, which will lather water like soap; the fresh leaves themselves cut into slices, are occasionally given to cattle, and finally the centre of the flowering stem split longitudinally, is by no means a bad substitute for a razor strop, owing to minute particles of silica forming one of its constituents.