THE PARLOR GARDENER. 41 



neither more nor less budding for it when the 

 proper time comes. Continue the same treatment 

 if, at the return of warm weather, the cactuses 

 show no signs of flowering : leave them dry a 

 month or two ; they will not die for it no dan- 

 ger of this. When they begin spontaneously to 

 vegetate, begin to water them with water of the 

 temperature of the room ; at first moderately, 

 afterwards a little more freely, but never to ex- 

 cess. The floods of rain that they get in their 

 native country do not hurt them there, because 

 the tropical climate renders evaporation rapid. It 

 would not be the same in your house. The quan- 

 tity should be, a tablespoonful of water for the 

 pots of the size of a tumbler, and a teaspoonful 

 for those the size of a wine-glass. 



Necessity of depriving them of "Water during 

 their Sleep. 



That you may perfectly understand the neces- 

 sity of not watering your .cactuses during the 

 sleep of their vegetation, I will relate to you what 

 happened to a botanist, who, being extremely 

 fond of cactuses, had a very fine collection of 



