icith observations upon the Management of Cactuses. 337 



frost, to mellow. When wanted for use, I add one third of san- 

 dy peat, in both cases mixing them well together. 



" I grow the young plants from February to July, in the forc- 

 ing flower house, kept from 55° to 60° Fahrenheit; I afterwards 

 remove them to a shelf in an airy situation in the green-house, 

 exposed to the mid-day sun, giving them plenty of air and little 

 water. The plants that I want to flower the following Septem- 

 ber are placed in the forcing house, in the first week in Decem- 

 ber, giving them very little water for the first ten days, and grad- 

 ually increasing the water as the plants advance in growth. About 

 the first of February I stop all the young shoots, which soon be- 

 come well ripened; from this time I decrease the quantity of 

 water, until they become quite dry, in order to throw the plants 

 into a state of rest; in the beginning of March I replace them in 

 a cold shady situation in the green-house, keeping them quite dry 

 until the following June, when I put them again into the forcing 

 house, treating them as before. For plants to flower in August, 

 I place a quantity more in the forcing house the first week in 

 January, treating them the same as those for September, only 

 they are put to rest in the green-house a fortnight sooner, and re- 

 placed in the forcing house one week sooner. 



" The first flowering plants are put in the forcing house the 

 end of January, and will come into flower about the middle of 

 March. When these plants have done flowering, and are re- 

 moved from the drawing-room or green-house, I prune away most 

 of the old shoots that have flowered, so that the plants are fur- 

 nished regularly with young shoots for flowering the ensuing 

 year; these plants are also placed in the forcing house for ten 

 days, to ripen the young wood and dry up the moisture, and are 

 put at rest in the green-house, as usual: such plants will flower a 

 second time in October; others, put in the forcing house the 

 middle of February, will flower about the end of April; if these 

 are pruned and dried, and put to rest as before, they will flower 

 a second time, in November, and so on in proportion. I repot 

 them at all seasons, whenever the plants may require it, always 

 observing to keep the pots well drained with potsherds, that the 

 moisture may pass off readily. This process may be consid- 

 ered troublesome; but superior growth and abundance of flowers 

 amply repay the care bestowed. By the above treatment, the 

 Cereus speciosus and .Tenkinsoni have generally produced from 

 ninety to a hundred fine expanded flowers at one year old. The 

 plants that I brought before the Society [May 21, 1833,] were 

 about two years old; the C. speciosus bore two hundred flowers, 

 C. speciosissimus seventy-two, and C. Jenkinsoni one hundred 

 and ninety-four. I prefer growing them in wooden tubs [!], 

 with wire stakes fixed to the tub, to the usual mode, of support- 

 ing them by stakes driven into the ball of the plant, which, 



VOL. III. NO. IX. 43 



