42 THE PATILOB GARDENER. 



them. A friend sent him a box of cactuses from 

 the province of Minas Geraes, in Brazil, which he 

 hastened to put in pots in his conservatory, and 

 at the same time put by in a drawer a double set 

 of specimens, which he proposed to make presents 

 of. Forced to set out on a long journey, he for- 

 got the cactuses in his drawer ; and on his re- 

 turn home, after an absence of several months, he 

 found them there, faded, withered, in so deplor- 

 able a state that he thought them lost. Never- 

 theless, he planted them, and began to water 

 them by degrees. All recovered and flowered 

 abundantly; while those which had been planted, 

 and taken care of ever since their arrival, only 

 flowered in part; many did not flower at all. 

 His gardener had been afraid of letting them 

 suffer from thirst, and had given them too much 

 to drink. 



Keep in mind, then, ladies, that in order that 

 your cactuses may bloom, it is necessary that 

 the periodic sleep of their vegetation should be 

 complete ; and that it cannot be so if they be 

 watered at the wrong time. As to temperature, 

 they are of a temperament that accommodates 



