Species and Varieties of Cactus and Cereus. 171 



bricks, and the other half a rich soil which has been seldom or ev- 

 er used for these species of plants. The next thing is the draining 

 of the pot, which is a very important point, and must not be neg- 

 lected. Making use of a pot two or three sizes larger than the 

 one the plant is growing in, supposing it is to be repotted, lay a 

 piece of pot, or oyster shell over the hole, at the bottom, with the 

 hollow side downwards, and fill up about one third of the pot with 

 potsherds or bricks — not so small as that which was used to mix 

 with the compost. The kind of soil here recommended, I have 

 tried, and do not hesitate in advising those, who are partial to this 

 genus of plants, to adopt the same practice, if they wish to excel 

 in their cultivation. In the winter season, or when the plants are 

 not growing, water sparingly ; nevertheless a certain portion is in- 

 dispensably necessary ; in this the cultivator must be his own judge 

 as no invariable rule can be given. With a drainage such as re- 

 commended, the water will pass through immediately — which 

 should be kept in remembrance. This great flowering cereus has 

 been cultivated in England upwards of one hundred years, and to 

 all lovers of tropical plants, it still is, and always has been, a great 

 favorite. When judiciously trained in a zigzag manner to a trel- 

 lis, or a ladder made for the purpose, it makes a very beautiful ap- 

 pearance, and certainly has no very distant claim to one of the 

 most prominent stands in the stove or green-house. 



Yours, &;c., A Practical Gardener. 



Cambridge, April, 1836. 



Art. V. Beautiful Plants growing wild in the Vicinty of Boston, 

 By E. B. Kenrick, Watertown. 



(Continued from p. 124..) 



Hhodora. 

 JRhodora canadense L. Canadian Rhodora, False Honeysuckle. 

 A small shrub, about two feet high, very beautiful flowers, which are 

 seen before the leaves begin to expand. Leaves alternate, oval, 

 hairy and glaucous or whitish beneath, and mostly not indented on 

 the rim. The corolla consists of three unequal petals, the largest of 

 which is broad, and is divided into three segments or lobes at the end, 

 while the two other petals are equal, lance-formed, and obtuse. 

 The flowers are in umbels or umbrella-shaped clusters, on the ends 



