ON THE SOIL ADAPTED TO SUCCULENTS. 99 



pair in each, and the pots ought not to be less that half-pecks: A 

 hornbeam or other hedge, having a south or south-east exposure, will 

 be found most suitable for them. A wall ought to be as much as 

 possible avoided ; such a situation will be found extremely prejudicial, 

 being so liable to drafts and eddies. After having been planted a 

 short time, the sticks may be inserted in the pots, for if delayed, it 

 is very probable that the roots may be injured. 



[To be continued.'] 



ARTICLE II. 



ON THE SOIL ADAPTED TO SUCCULENTS. 



By this title may be understood an immense tribe of plants formerly 

 considered tenants of the dry-stove, but now found to be more hardy 

 than the Geranium. But it is proposed to restrict this inquiry to the 

 Cactece, as sufficiently comprehensive for the present purpose. 



There are many persons now living who may remember the time 

 when our greenhouses or stoves could exhibit few specimens of the 

 Cacteae, except the common creeping Cereus, the Melon and Torch 

 Thistles, and the Indian Fig. 



Now, however, the case is widely different ; for such has been the 

 success of collectors, and so great is the facility with which the genera 

 are propagated, and varied by cross impregnation, that it would be 

 vain to attempt a catalogue. 



Even in 1831, Loudon's Hortus Britannicus exhibited, at pages 

 194 — 196, under the order Opuntiaceae, no fewer than eleven species 

 of true Cacti, twenty of Mammilarice, forty-three of Cereus, five of 

 Epiphyllum, thirty of true Opuntia, and four of Periskia i Yet what 

 are these among so many of more recent introduction, to say nothing 

 of the endless varieties ! 



Having .then so much choice among a selection of surpassing 

 beauty, it becomes an object of consequence to determine, pretty 

 accurately, the soil that will generally succeed with all the varieties : 

 but herein, as almost always happens, cultivators are at variance ; yet, 

 as we do not pretend to dictate, and ever desire to " let well alone," 

 we shall be content to allude to what we have seen and heard. 



Formerly it was the custom to make pretty free use of old mortar 



