45 



at bottom, tkree inches liigh, and 

 two inclies "vdde at top, will last 

 ten or twelre years before it requires 

 to be taken up and replanted ; but, 

 if the edging be allowed to attain a 

 larger size — say, six inches Avide at 

 bottom, six inches high, and three 

 inches wide at top — it will last 

 fifteen or twenty years, or probably 

 a much longer period. j 



Box-hedges for shelter are treated • 

 like other hedges, and being clipped ; 

 at the same period as Box-edgings, 

 will last for an unknown period, 

 probably for centuries, provided 

 the surface of the hedge, or, in 

 other words, the points of the shoots, 

 are cut back occasionally, so as to 

 admit the air to the centre of the 

 hedge. The Box, when used to 

 execute arabesques, or scroll-work 

 on the ground, is not allowed to 

 grow higher than two or three 

 inches, and is cut quite flat at 

 top ; the entire figure of the ara- 

 besque being formed of Box, with- 

 out the introduction of flowers or 

 other plants, though occasionally 

 with the addition of small cones or 

 globes of Box rising up from the 

 terminal points of the arabesque 

 figure. These cones, pyramids, 

 globes, or other figures, are kept in 

 coiTect shape by being clipped every 

 year. "When verdant sculpture 

 was in fashion, no tree excepting 

 the Yew was so well adaped for it 

 as the Box ; and the tree was cut 

 into the proper shape, by putting 

 a wire frame of the desired form 

 over the tree, and clipping the 

 branches to it. 



n AC A' LI A L.— Compositce. — C. 

 ^ coccinea L., Emilia cocclnea 

 Cass., is a half-hardy annual, with, 

 a bright scarlet flower, in form 

 somewhat resembling that of the 

 common Groundsel. It is some- 



times cultivated for the brilliant 

 colour of its flowers, though it is 

 scarcely worth the trouble it re- 

 quires ; as it must not only be 

 raised on a hotbed, but its long 

 slender stalks must be staked and 

 tied up, to make it look at all neat. 

 There are several perennial species 

 of Cacalia, but they are very seldom 

 seen in British gardens. 



Ca'ctus L. — Cactacece. — The 

 very remarkable succulent plants, 

 arranged by Linnaeus under the 

 name of Cactus, have been distri- 

 buted by modem botanists over 

 numerous genera, which thej' are 

 still continually changing and re- 

 an-anging. At first a few plants 

 were left in the genus Cactus, but 

 now that genus is annihilated, and 

 seven or eight new genera substi- 

 tuted for it ; still, as all the plants 

 that once composed it, and the new 

 ones of the same nature that col- 

 lectors are continually sending home, 

 are known by the general name of 

 Cacti, it has been thought advisable 

 to give here a slight sketch of the 

 whole family. 

 ! In the time of Linureus, very few 

 I Cacti were known ; and even in the 

 i year 1807, Persoon enumerated only 

 I thirty-two ; but now above five hun- 

 dred living species are to be found 

 in a single collection ; and numbers 

 ' of new species are being sent home 

 by collectors every year. These 

 ; new species are chiefly found in the 

 i tropical regions of America, but 

 I they extend over 75 degrees of lati- 

 tude, some being found near the 

 ' boundaiy of the United States, and 

 i some near the tovrn of Conception 

 in Chili. By far the greater num- 

 I ber, however, grow in the dry, 

 burning plains of Mexico and Bra- 

 : zil, where they are subjected to 

 the alternate seasons of extreme 

 ' moisture and extreme drought. In 

 i these arid plains, where all nature 



