Varieties in Alien Soil and Climate 197 



undoubtedly has the victory over the rest of us, 

 both in the size and profusion of bloom. There, 

 on account of the long, cool growing season, 

 causing an easy production of late seeds, hy- 

 bridization has made the greatest strides. With 

 but two or possibly three exceptions the growers 

 there strive almost exclusively for the heavy 

 decorative and hybrid cactus types. It is only 

 lately that a few of them have put new blood and 

 some backbone into the incurved cactus types, 

 giving them the strength of stem necessary to 

 hold up their heads and reveal their beauty. 

 But with that backbone comes a shorter and 

 less twisted petal than those from our cousins 

 across the sea. 



The general complaint against these incurved 

 cactus types from England has been the weak 

 stem, unable to bear the weight of the bloom. 

 Some, indeed, seem to have a stem deliberately 

 curved downward, rigidly holding the bloom like 

 a tassel. The plum-coloured Dorothy Hawes, 

 for instance, has a long stem for all the world 

 like the symbol of the square root in our algebra 

 books (i/). Pierrot, Valiant, Melody, all hang 

 their heads, yet their habit of growth and their 

 delicate foliage compensate for this, and by dis- 

 budding and cutting them with very long stems 

 they are unsurpassed for house decoration. 



