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576 



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light covering of litter. Wlicn well 

 rooted they may be removed into the 

 cellar, or other place, where the light 

 can be completely excluded from them, 

 to blanch for use as wanted, which 

 change will be effected in six or seven 

 days. Succory will bear a temperature 

 of GO', but thrives better in a rather 

 lower one. 



If the roots are vigorous, they will 

 bear cutting from two or three times, 

 after winch they are unproductive. 



To obtain Seed, a few plants must 

 be left in the open ground of the June 

 sowing ; they bear the severity of win- 

 ter without protection, and shoot up in 

 the sprinrr, running to seed about May. 



SUCCOVVIA halearica. Hardy an- 

 nual. Seeds. Light soil. 



SUCCULENT PLANTS are so cha- 

 racterized on account of their thick juicy 

 leaves. " They are formed to exist," 

 says that excellent botanist and horti- 

 culturist, Mr. Fortune, now traveling 

 for the London Horticultural Society, 

 " in countries and situations where they 

 are often exposed to intense light and 

 dryness; their skins are thick; they 

 have few evaporating pores ; and they 

 have, likewise, few roots to gorge their 

 tissue with food during the rainy season. 

 Therefore, we find the dry sandy plains 

 of the Cape abounding in aloes and 

 mesembryanthemums ; and the bare 

 volcanic rocks of Mount Etna covered, 

 in many places, with the common prick- 

 ly pear. In Mexico, also, and in many 

 other parts of Central and South Ame- 

 rica, the extensive race of cacti, with 

 their curious unvegetable-like forms, 

 are at home, and flourish even in those 

 dry and parched seasons when the 

 whole face of nature besides seems 

 withered and destroyed. I wish particu- 

 larly to draw attention to the natural 

 circumstancog in which these plants 

 are found ; because, if these are once 

 known, they are sure and certain guides 

 in cultivation. 



" To be grown well, the whole race 

 of what are called succulent plants re- 

 quire to be kept in the lightest possible 

 situation in the green-house. It is true 

 they may be grown in heavy-shaded 

 green-houses, but their leaves will ne- 

 ver acquire that beautiful colour which 

 is seen in light situations, nor will they 

 flower so freely. Water should be 

 given to the slow-growing kinds at all 

 times with a judicious hand, but par- 



ticularly during winter, as more plants 

 are killed by over-watering, than by 

 any other cause. At this time, once in 

 ten days or a fortnight will generally 

 be found sufficient; but as this depends 

 upon the situation and the weather, 

 much must be left to the good sense of 

 those who attend them. Those kinds 

 which are more luxuriant in growth, 

 and not so succulent, require more 

 water, and are not so easily injured by 

 it. By far the greatest number succeed 

 perfectly, where the temperature Ls 

 merely high enough to exclude frost, 

 that is, anywhere bet%veen thirty-five 

 and forty-five degrees, as may be most 

 agreeable to the cultivator. 



" Succulents are generally easily 

 multiplied, either by seeds or cuttings. 

 If the cutting is very soft, and liable to 

 damp, it ought to be dried a little be- 

 fore it is put into the sand. Sometimes 

 a little quicklime is useful for prevent- 

 ing decay, and can be either used for 

 the base of the cutting, or to any part 

 of the plant from which a damping 

 piece has been removed." — Gardeners' 

 Chron. 



SUCKERS, says Dr. Lindley, in his 

 Theory of Horticulture, " are branches 

 naturally thrown up by a plant from its 

 base, when the onward current of 

 growth of the stem is stopped. Every 

 stem, even the oldest, must have been 

 once covered with leaves ; each leaf 

 had a bud in its axil ; but of those buds, 

 few are developed as branches, and 

 the remainder remain latent, or perish. 

 When the onward growth of a plant is 

 arrested, the sap is driven to find new 

 outlets, and then latent buds are very 

 likely to be developed ; in fact, when 

 the whole plant is young, they must 

 necessarily shoot forth under fitting 

 circumstances; the well-known effect 

 of cutting down a tree is an exemplifi- 

 cation of this. Such branches, if they 

 proceed from under ground, frequently 

 form roots at their base, when they are 

 employed as a means of propagation ; 

 I and in the case of the pine-apple they 

 ' are made use of for the same purpose, 

 although they do not emit roots till 

 they are separated from the parent. 

 Gardeners usually satisfy themselves 

 with takmg from their pine-apple plants 

 such suckers as are produced in con- 

 sequence of the stoppage of onward 

 growth by the formation of the fruits ; 

 I but these are few in number, and not 



