2l6 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



October, 190S 



Important as it is, however, it is not ad- 

 visable to over-do it. Cleanliness in a 

 greenhouse is an excellent thing up to a 

 certain point, but if it is carried to the 

 extreme, it really becomes a nuisance. 

 Let the owners once begin to feel that it 

 is considered of so much importance, 

 that they are not supposed to pluck a few 

 flowers, remove a plant, or walk over 

 the floors for fear of making a mess, and 

 the place becomes more a source of irri- 

 tation than enjoyment. This does not 

 mean that the houses should be kept in 

 any thing approaching a dirty condition. 

 A private place should be kept fit for in- 

 spection during all reasonable hours, but 

 to do this it is not necessary to be ever- 

 lastingly scrubbing and scouring, and 

 wasting time and labor that could be put 

 to better purposes. A little neglect in 

 respect to cleanliness will do no great 

 harm, provided the neglected things are 

 the least conspicuous. Pots, pans, 

 boxes, and many other things indispen- 

 sable to gardening operations, possess 

 no particiJar beauty of their own, but it 

 would often save a good deal of labor, 

 as well as improve the appearance of the 

 house, if they were hidden from sight 



by well-arranged flowers or foliage, in- 

 stead of being exposed to full view in the 

 manner frequently seen. A good plan is 

 to do all cleaning work a little at a time 

 and in such a way as to cause the least 

 confusion. A bit of wood-work, a floor, 

 a few plants here or pots there, taken in 

 hand, as they require it, will usually keep 

 the place clean and tidy enough for all 

 ordinary purposes. 



In the conservatory or show house, 

 all watering and cleaning operations 

 should be rushed through as early in the 

 day as possible. All dead leaves and 

 flowers should be picked ofl', and any 

 plants that are passed, replaced with 

 . fresh ones, leaving the house in such a 

 condition that under ordinary circum- 

 stances no further work will be neces- 

 sary, except attending to ventilation, 

 temperature and so forth. All pots and 

 plants should be thoroughly clean and 

 free from vermin before being placed in 

 a conservatory attached to the dwelling 

 house, where the ordinary methods of 

 cleaning are impracticable. If this rule 

 is strictly adhered to, little in the way of 

 further cleaning there will be necessary 

 for weeks at a time. 



Hardy Cacti 



J. H. Callander, Pcterboro, Ontario 



THE generally accepted opinion re- 

 garding cacti, seems to be that 

 they are tender plants from the 

 tropics, and must be very carefully pro- 

 tected from frost. While this is true of 

 some varieties, the majority of them will 

 stand much more cold than is supposed, 

 as, while they are natives of the hot 

 countries, it is the rocky, mountainous 

 sections that they inhabit, and that, too, 

 quite often almost to the snow line. Nec- 

 essarily, they are subjected to both ex- 

 tremes of heat and cold, and without in- 

 jury to them in the least. It is the var- 

 ieties that are found on the hot, level 

 plains that are tender when exposed to 

 the climate of the North. The tender 

 sorts are the cerei, which are not found 

 north of a line running across the upper 

 edge of Mexico, and extending upwards 

 into Arizona, crossing the Rockies at 

 about Death Valley in California, and 

 from thence to San Diego on the coast. 

 Up to a short time ago the cactus fancier 

 had no knowledge of which of his treas- 

 ured cacti were hardy, and which re- 

 quired shelter from the frost, so kept all 

 in the conservatory window, or at least 

 carried them into the cellar for winter if 

 bedded out during the summer. They 

 would gladly have known the hardy from 

 the tender, but did not care to subject 

 their valued collection to the test of ex- 

 posing them to an unprotected winter out 

 of doors, in order to gain the desired 



knowledge, so had to care for all in the 

 same old way. 



It has lately been discovered that 

 though cacti have not been found grow- 

 ing wild in the eastern states or Canada, 

 there are a number of really good varie- 

 ties that will luxuriate anywhere in the 

 United States and most of Canada, 

 growing and blooming in the most ex- 

 posed situations and asking no better 



Echinopui Eyr!e<ii 



spot to take root in than some gravelly, 

 stony knoll, where no other vegetation 

 could exist, much less revel in, i-nd yield 



an annual display of gorgeous flowers 

 that delight the eye. No longer in the 

 experimental stage is the growing of 

 hardy cacti for permanent outdoor beds, 

 as many of our parks have tried hardy 

 cacfi to beautify barren spots that had 

 seemed hopeless problems previous to 

 that time. 



On some gravelly side hill, with a 

 southern exposure, where shrubs and 

 grass would be burnt up long before 

 they could establish themselves, the cacti 

 find their natural conditions in perfec- 

 tion. Here they thrive and grow, bloom 

 and seed, and when cold weather in the 

 fall warns them of coming frosts, they 

 make a graceful retreat, and go into win- 

 ter retirement, becoming so shrunken 

 and reduced as to seem about ready 

 to be dug up and thrown on the rubbish 

 pile. The fresh green color changes to a 

 sunburnt looking purple, and the abun- 

 dant store of juices that keep the tough 

 skin filled out plump and smooth all 

 summer seem to have been all used up, 

 leaving the cactus in its dormant state 

 and ready to take its winter rest. , 



In this way nature's plan has been 

 followed, and its results are sure to be 

 an abundance of bloom the next season, 

 the safety of the plants in the coldest 

 weather, and a chance for the gardener 

 to watch a rapid and wonderful change 

 as the warm weather of spring awakens 

 the sleeping cacti to another season of 

 life, beauty and usefulness in giving an 

 otherwise useless spot of ground a car- 

 pet of green as well as a liberal display 

 of unexpectedly handsome flowers. 



As soon as this phase of cactus grow- 

 ing becomes better known, there is likely 

 to be a great demand for the hardy varie- 

 ties, and no fear need be felt of their abil- 

 ity to take care of themselves, as the 

 writer has seen the little Mamillaria 

 Montana and Opuntia Missouriensis 

 growing and doing well in the Canadian 

 Northwest, where the temperature varies 

 from roo degrees in the shade in summer 

 to 40 degrees below zero in winter. 

 There they revive each spring after a 

 long hard winter and bloom as freely as 

 if growing 4,000 miles farther south. It 

 is mostly Opuntias in several sorts that 

 are used in the hardy beds. Their flow- 

 ers are for the most part yellow, with 

 a few showing a red or pink centre, 

 shading to yellow on the outer edges. 



If you did not prepa''e an earth mulch 

 for the lawn, as recommended in prev- 

 ious issues, apply a mode/ate dressing of 

 well-rotted barn-yard manure, and 

 spread it evenly. 



If you have no photographs of your 

 own garden or lawn and k low where 

 there are some, kindly send the name 

 of the owner to The Canad.an Horti- 

 culturist, or ask him to fo'ward the 

 photographs to us. 



