NEW MEXICAN CACTUS. 



— SO that the friends of this doomed tree began to hope that all was not lost — and that 

 we should finally see the Buttonwood restored. But that hope is likely to prove falla- 

 cious — for new wood, that has only about sixty days to mature in, can hardly get strength 

 and vigor to stand our winters. And consequently, the spring of every succeeding year 

 since that eventful time, finds the Buttonwood without a living bud to start from. 



A friend of mine, who is quite a traveler, informed me tlie other day that the only But- 

 tonwood trees that he had seen, that had not suffered as ours have, Avere some near the 

 falls of Niagara, and they were in all their glory — having been protected bj' that eternal 

 spray that always fills the air in their immediate vicinit}'. Yours respeclfuUy. 



Alfked Baylies. 



Taunton, July 8, 1651. 



[Our correspondent's theory would be a good one if its application could be confin- 

 ed to Massachusetts. But three years before the fatal day he records, which began 

 the Buttonwood blight in his state, we saw trees entirely killed by it, as far south as 

 Maryland, where no such frost had taken place. From the south, the disease has gradu- 

 ally spread to the north, and we have watched young trees, that stood last year in perfect 

 luxuriance, by the side of diseased old trees, gradually fall victims to the same malady. 

 Wherever the Buttonwood stands in moist ground, there it seems best able to withstand 

 the disease — while in dry, sandy soils, it is a pretty sure victim to it. The cause, we are 

 confident, lies deeper than any matter of climate — and is M'orthy of the careful investiga- 

 tion of vegetable physiologists. Ed.] 



NEW MEXICAN CACTUS. 



FROM CARD. MAGAZINE OF BOTANY. 



ECHINOCACTUS RHODOPHTnALMUS, — 



Hooker. — Red eyed Echinocactus, (^Bot. 

 Mag. t. 4486)— Nat. Ord., Cactaceaj § 

 Cactse. — A green-house succulent plant 

 of sub-columnar form, six inches (or 

 more) high, longitudinally divided into 

 eight or nine deep furrows, Avith obtuse 

 ridges, formed by transverse lines into 

 lobes or tubercles, each tubercle bearing 

 a cluster of about nine strong, straight, 

 spreading spines, about an inch in length, 

 the central one longest, and standing for- 

 ward. The flowers — from the top of the 

 plant — are large, handsome, the petals 

 linear-spathulate, rose colored, a dark red 

 stain at the base forming a radiating cir- 

 cle around the staminal column. — From 

 Mexico: San Luis Potosi; iutrodujced 

 about 1847, by F. Stains, Esq. Flowers 

 in summer. Royal Botanic Gardens, 



