1900 SUPPLEMENT—RECENT INTRODUCTIONS, 
Cacti—continued. 
—— = - Se —- ~ ee : 
oP its 
Fig. 187. GARDEN VARIETY OF PHYLLOCACTUS 
(Grown as a Window Plant). 
good collection of these plants may be grown. In heated 
structures the selection of kinds may be made according to 
the space available, and to the conditions under which 
they will be expected to grow. Fig. 188 represents a section 
of a house for Cactuses, which will afford a good idea of the 
kind of structure best suited for them. 
The aspect is due south. 
When grown on their own roots, the 
Epiphyllums, as well as the pendent- 
growing kinds of Rhipsalis, and several 
species of Cereus, may be placed in 
baskets and. suspended from the roof. Z 
The baskets should be Ifmed with thin a 
slices of fibrous peat, and the whole 
of the middle filled with a mixture 
of peat, loam, and sand. . When well 
managed, some very pretty objects are 
formed by the Epiphyllums grown as 
basket-plants. The climbing Cac- 
tuses are usually planted in a little 
mound composed of loam ands brick 
- rubble, and their stems either trained 
along rafters or allowed to run up the 
back wall of a greenhouse, against 
which they root freely, and are gener- 
ally capable of taking care of them- 
selves with very little attention from 
the gardener. 
In Frames. For cultivation in 
frames, the conditions are the same 
as for greenhouses. Even when grown 
in the latter, it will be found conducive 
to the health and flowering of the 
plants if, during the summer months, 
they can be placed in a frame with 
a south aspect, returning them to the 
house again on the decline of summer 
Fic. 188. SECTION OF HOUSE FOR CACTUSES. 
&c. - 173 
Cacti—continued. 
weather. Wherever the place selected for Cactuses may be, 
whether in a large plant-house, or a frame, or a window, 
it is of vital importance that the position should be ex- 
posed to bright sunshine during most of the day. In 
Germany, many growers of almost all the kinds of Cactuses 
place their young plants in frames, which are prepared as 
follows: In April or May a hot-bed of manure and leaves 
is prepared, and a frame placed upon it, looking south. 
Six inches of soil is put on the top of the bed, and in this, 
as soon as the temperature of the bed has fallen to about 
70deg., the young plants are placed in rows. The frames 
are kept close, even in bright weather, except when there 
is too much moisture inside, and the plants are syringed 
twice daily in dry, hot weather. The growth they make 
under this treatment is astonishing. By the autumn the 
plants are ready to be ripened by exposure to sun and 
air, and in September they are lifted, planted in pots, and 
sent to market for sale. This method may be adopted in 
England, and if carefully managed, the growth the plants 
would make would far exceed anything ever accomplished 
when they are kept permanently in pots. 
Our-or-Doors. There are some kinds which may be 
grown out of doors altogether, if plauted on a sunny, 
sheltered position on a rockery. The most successful plan 
is that followed at Kew, where a collection of the hardier 
species is planted in a rockery composed of brick rubble 
and stones. During summer the plants are exposed; but 
when cold weather and rains come, lights are placed per- 
manently over the rockery, and in this way it is kept 
comparatively dry. No fire-heat or protection of any other 
kind is used, and the vigorous growth, robust health, and 
floriferousness of the several species are proofs of the 
fitness of the treatment for this class of plants. 
In any garden where a few square yards in a sunny, 
well-drained position ean be afforded for a raised rockery, 
the hardy Cactuses may be easily managed. To make a 
suitable rockery, proceed as follows: Find a_ position 
against the south wall of a house, greenhouse, or shed, 
and against this wall construct a raised rockery of brick 
rubble, lime rubbish, stones (soft sandstone, if possible), 
and fibrous loam. The rockery, when finished, should he, 
A, A, Hot-water Pipes; B, B, Ventilators. 
