C A C 



CyES 



'before they acquire any considerable size or 

 growth; or by setting the young plants which 

 issue from the sides of the old ones in pots of 

 the same sort of earth in the spring or autumn, 

 managing them in the same way as those from seed . 



But to have large plants at once, they may be 

 procured from the West Indies in tubs of dry 

 compost rubbish, care being taken to guard 

 them from cold and moisture. On their arrival 

 they should be planted in pots, and plunged in 

 the bark-bed till perfectly rooted and become 

 strong. 



These plants should be placed upon the tops of 

 the flues or shelves in the stoves in winter, and 

 in the bark-beds in summer; very moderate 

 waterings being given in very hot weather, but 

 none at all in winter, as they are very succulent 

 plants. They are of very singular growth. 



Culture in the Cereus, or Torch-Thistle kind. — 

 These plants are increased by planting the cut- 

 tings of the branches, which have been laid in 

 a dry place some weeks for the moisture to ex- 

 hale and the wounded parts to be healed over, 

 in small pots, in the summer season, filled with 

 a compost constituted of one third light earth, 

 the same quantity of sea-sand and sifted lime 

 rubbish, well mixed together, for some length 

 of time, plunging them in the bark hot-bed of 

 the stove, some rather coarse gravel being previ- 

 ously placed in the bottoms of the pots to pre- 

 vent the stagnation of moisture. 



In the upright sorts, the cuttings for this use 

 may be provided by taking oft" the tops of such 

 kinds as are wanted ; the plants afterwards 

 throwing out shoots below, so as to furnish 

 plentiful supplies annually. But in the creeping 

 sorts, as there are various stalks and branches, 

 these may be taken off in cuttings of from three 

 to five or six inches in length, and planted in 

 the same way. 



About the middle of August, the plants after 

 being raised in this manner should have air given 

 them by degrees, to harden them against win- 

 ter, but not wholly exposed to it or the sun, 

 and at the end of September removed into the 

 stove, or green-house, for the winter, during 

 which season they must not have much water. 

 The young plants, for the first winter, should 

 always be placed in a little warmer situation than 

 the older ones, as being more tender. 



These plants should constantly haveasdry situ- 

 ations as possible in winter, as they imbibe the 

 greatest part of their nourishment from the air, 

 to prevent their roots from rotting ; and should 

 not be much exposed in the open air even in 

 summer, unless under shelter, as rains are very 

 injurious to them : nor should the creeping sorts 

 be exposed too much to the open air, even in 



the hottest season, if they are designed to flower, 

 but in winter be kept very warm, and have no 

 water given them. 



The Great-flowering Creeping Cereus is 3. 

 tender plant that requires a warm stove to pro- 

 tect it, in which it may be trained against 

 the walls or upon sticks. But the six-angled 

 and the small sort, with pink-coloured flowers, 

 are not so tender, being capable of being pre- 

 served in a good green-house, or when placed 

 under a hot-bed frame in winter. 



Culture in the Indian Fig kind. — These plants 

 may be readily increased by cuttings of the 

 joints of the branches, taken off and planted in 

 pots of light sandy compost, during the early 

 summer months. These cuttings, previous to 

 planting, should, as in the other sorts, be laid 

 in a dry place ten or fifteen days to heal over 

 the cut parts ; and the hot-house kinds, by being 

 then plunged in the bark -bed, or other hot-bed, 

 will be greatly promoted in their rooting; but 

 the <rreen-house sort, or Common Opuntia, rea- 

 dily strikes root without, though it is greatly 

 forwarded by such assistance. They all require 

 the earth to be occasionally moistened a 

 little. 



In the summer season they often require 

 water, but it must not be given in large quanti- 

 ties, lest it rot them, and in winter it should be 

 proportioned to the warmth of the stove; as, if 

 the air be kept very warm, they require to be 

 often refreshed, to prevent the branches shrink- 

 ing ; but if kept in only a moderate degree of 

 warmth, little is necessary. The heat in which 

 they thrive best is that marked temperate on 

 botanical thermometers, as, when they are kept 

 loo warm in winter, it causes their shoots to 

 be very weak and tender. The sorts which 

 are inclinable to grow upright should have their 

 branches supported with stakes, to prevent their 

 being broken down by their own weight. 



Plants of this sort arc mostly exposed to the 

 open air in the summer season ; but they thrive 

 much better when continued in the stoves, pro- 

 vided they have free air; as, when set abroad, 

 the rains much diminish their beauty, retard 

 their growth, and prevent their producing 

 flowers and fruit in such plenty as when con- 

 stantly kept in the house. 



These are all plants of curious growth, and 

 which afford much variety as well as singularity 

 of effect when introduced among the stove and 

 green-house collections. 



CyESALPINIA, a gehus containing a plant 

 of the shrubby exotic kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Decandria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Lumcntacere. 



