32 ON THE TREATMENT OF CACTI. 



feel at all annoyed by your not publishing them, should you not 

 think them fit to appear in your Journal, which improves every year, 

 and which I have had great pleasure in recommending to my 

 friends. 



Succulent plants, so far from requiring the temperature of a stove, 

 as supposed by many, are most certainly much more injured by so 

 high a temperature than by being kept cool, if we except the Genera 

 Stapelia Euphorbia, and a few Cactus, all others are much better 

 when kept in a cool, dry, airy greenhouse. Another notion, which I 

 have heard people advocate, viz., that Cacteae and succulents should 

 be planted in lime, rubbish, gravel, or porous matter, with a view to 

 prevent them growing too rapidly, also that they should have hardly 

 any water given them, is erroneous. 



Soil is next to be considered. A light, rich, loamy soil is the best 

 for plants of this description. The free-flowering Cactese should be 

 placed in the richest soil possible, at the same time it must be open 

 and porous, such as will let water pass through it freely, and for that 

 reason it should have broken pots, or small pieces of broken bricks 

 mixed with it to keep it open. Poor sandy soil should be discarded. 



Shifting or Potting. — There are few species of succulents, until 

 they have attained a pretty large size, but what will be the better for 

 being examined at least once a year. The most proper season for 

 this is in spring, before they begin to grow. The majority of these 

 plants require pots less in size than those of other plants in general. 

 They require to be thoroughly drained, as stagnant water is very 

 injurious to the roots. 



When it is desired to have large specimens of plants of this genus, 

 they must be shifted into larger pots, and supplied with plenty of 

 water. 



Many persons do not shift or pot their succulents above once in 

 two, three, or four years : there are many kinds which do not need 

 it oftener, but they are the small slow-growing kinds, such as the 

 melon-shaped Cacteae. 



In regard to temperature, most succulent plants will stand unin- 

 jured when the thermometer falls to forty-five degrees, or even lower. 



During winter care must be taken that the plants are not over wa- 

 tered, and that the house is water-tight. A watch must be kept that 

 the plants do not suffer from damp. 



