ON INCREASING PLANTS OF THE CACTUS TRIBE. 101 



To graft Cactese is not very difficult ; and, though it may appear 

 a mere play, it is not quite that, as there are many sorts of this kind 

 of plants -which may he more easily flowered hy this method than hy 

 any other; and if we continue these experiments, we may, perhaps, 

 obtain many new flowers. I succeed best in grafting joints of Epi- 

 phyllum truncatum, E. Altensteinii, or even Cereus phyllanthiiides, 

 upon the stem of Opuntia brasiliensis. the top of which has been cut 

 off; and I get, by such means, plants of surprising beauty, which 

 distinguish themselves by their luxuriant growth and profusion of 

 flowers. Even slender branches of several Cereuses will grow easily 

 upon fleshy Opuntias, and the process itself is quite a simple one. 

 Take the cutting off somewhat pointed on the lower end, and shove it, 

 freshly cut, into the cut or hole of the plant upon which it is to be 

 grafted, and wind a ;voollen thread not too firmly round it ; or, if 

 that should not be easily managed, I close the place by plastering 

 grafting- wax over it. When it succeeds, so close a union soon takes 

 place that the graft seems to be a part of the plant itself. The 

 growing of the graft, however, is no proof of the success of the opera- 

 tion, for it often happens that, notwithstanding its growth, no such 

 joining has taken place ; and the consequence is that, sooner or later, 

 the graft withers, though sometimes not before one or two years. 



The propagation of Cactese by seed is, for many sorts, of great 

 value; and, whenever I have seed, I am pretty sure to succeed. 

 I annually get ripe seed in abundance, of a great many sorts, without 

 the least trouble ; as of Mammillaria pusilla and simplex, Echino- 

 cactus Ottonis, Cereus flagelliformis, and a great many of the Opun- 

 tias. But these, unfortunately, are sorts which, to grow slowly from 

 seed, are of but little or no interest, because we can get them much 

 faster by cuttings. Seeds of some sorts can only be got but by a 

 careful and artificial impregnation. For this purpose, I take the pollen 

 from a completely unfolded flower with a soft and clean camel-hair 

 brush, and brush it, without force, either upon the stigma of the 

 same flower, or, when it is wished to produce hybrids, upon that of 

 another sort. By these means I get fruits with ripe seeds fit for 

 sowing. Besides, I am sometimes so lucky as to find ripe fruits on 

 newly-imported specimens ; and it is of great consequence that persons 

 who get such plants from their native countries should carefully ex- 

 amine the living ones of new forms, as well as those that happen to 



