94 THE GREEN-HOUSE.—MESEMBRYANTHEMUMS. -—CACTI, 
Mesembryanthemums.—There are very few things in gardening 
respecting which gardeners appear more to disagree than in the 
treatment of succulent plants; particularly of the Mesembryanthe- 
mums, which are mostly natives of the sandy plains near the Cape 
of Good Hope, where they are subjected to alternate seasons of ex- 
treme wet and extreme dryness. Cultivators attempting to imitate 
these peculiarities, have grown these succulent plants in poor sandy 
soil, and kept them entirely without water at one season, while they 
have been inundated with it at another; but the fact is, that when we 
attempt to imitate nature, we should remember that the attempt is 
useless, unless we can do so in every particular ; and also that the plants 
we have to cultivate, have been nursed up into so very artificial a 
state, that if they were transplanted to their native plains they would 
probably perish, like a poor Canary bird, which a mistaken philan- 
thropy has turned out of the cage in which it has long lived. For 
this reason, we must adopt the mode of treating succulents, which 
the best gardeners find most successful, without troubling ourselves 
to discover why it is so different from the natural habit of the plants. 
This mode of treatment is, then, to grow the plants in a rich loamy 
soil, kept open, as it is called, by the addition of lime rubbish; and 
to give the plants water all the year, but more moderately when they 
are in a dormant, than when they are in a growing state. They 
should also have as much air and light as possible. The water 
should never be suffered to stand in the saucer of any succulent 
plant; but it should be given regularly, diminishing the quantity a 
little every day as the season for rest approaches. If the water be 
suddenly stopped, the leaves of the plants will shrink and become 
flaccid, and when this is the case, the plant generally dies. A de- 
ficiency of air on the other hand will cause the plant to damp off. 
All Mesembryanthemums are very soon affected by frost; but will 
drive in the open air in summer. 
The Cacti, which are also succulent plants, are arranged in severil 
auite distinct groups, which require different treatment. The first of 
these comprises the various kinds of tree Cereus, which have long 
slender stems, thirty or forty feet high, without either branches or 
leaves. These singular looking plants grow on the summit of the 
mountains of Brazil, in a poor, dry, stony soil, and exposed on every 
side to the cold breezes of the lofty regions they inhabit. In Eng- 
land, they should be kept in only green-house heat, even in winter; 
