HINTS OF GROWING CACTI 211 



end of the third week will throw out new shoots, or new spines, as the 

 case may be, and will begin to grow. Then transplant, following 

 directions given below. 



Transplanting. For plants with roots, cut off all the dried roots 

 when you receive the plant. If the plant is bruised, sear it with a hot 

 iron, or dust with powdered charcoal. If the roots are bruised, better 

 cut close to the plant, as they will decay anyway and you may lose 

 the plant in trying to save one or two roots. Insert in sand, as for 

 cuttings, until the roots are growing, then plant, always remembering 

 to water sparingly until well established. 



Soil and Care. People who write that "cacti require no care" must 

 have the Echinopsis in mind. It is a plant that will endure the most 

 arrant neglect, and fairly shames one into treating it with more cour- 

 tesy. Its flowers are a joy, the white ones so perfect in their pure 

 spirituality, and so delicious in their wonderful fragrance; and the pink 

 blossoms are large and satiny, lined with an ethereal silvery sheen, its 

 deep throat tufted with a downy fringe. 



The soil in the cactus bed should be very loose and gravelly and 

 well drained. Nothing is more fatal to a cactus than a poorly drained 

 soil they do not like wet feet. 



While cacti will live in any dry soil, they are responsive to good 

 treatment and proper soil. For general planting use a mixture of half 

 sand and half clean garden loam. For Phyllocacti use one part well 

 decayed manure to two parts of the above, and to each bushel use a 

 5-inch pot of clean lime. For large Echinocacti add to the mixture of 

 sand and loam one 5-inch pot of crushed granite, and, if the spines are 

 highly colored and the desire is to intensify it, add iron filings to the 

 soil. 



If the plants are kept in the pots all the year around, the cacti will 

 derive much benefit from plunging the pots into the earth during the 

 summer months. Dig a hole larger than the size of the pot, and four 

 or five inches deeper; put in a layer of broken rocks; on this place 

 the pot and fill up with the earth. Make the beds where the sun 

 shines the hottest the spines will be clearer and the blossoms 

 brighter. When well established the plants will endure lots of water, 

 always provided no water stagnates about the roots. 



In localities where the soil is heavy and ill-drained, and it is desir- 

 able to bed cacti in the open, make an excavation near the center of 

 the bed, about three feet deep and as large as possible. Put a layer of 

 stones or old tin cans and such rubbish in the bottom, cover with 

 straw or coarse manure, then fill in your soil, having the bed slightly 

 elevated near the center, and a well-drained bed will be the result. 



