CULTURE OF THE CACTUS. 179 



and treated in every manner as before directed for growing 

 plants. 



That a tribe of plants possessing the various traits of foli- 

 age, flowers, &c., that are natural to the Cactus, will at some 

 future period engage much of the attention of the amateur 

 and lover of flowers, cannot be doubted ; for although in 

 regard to appearance of foliage they cannot be said to vie 

 with the Camellia, yet there is a beautiful natural order in 

 their nerves, and the spines or armature with which nature 

 has endowed this family of plants, to guard against the in- 

 trusion of animals and other invaders, that most generally, 

 when once made acquainted with their prickly coats, induce 

 them to be careful how they again come in contact with so 

 formidable a tribe of the vegetable kingdom. 



Grafting the Cactus. The engrafting of the weaker 

 kinds of the Cactus on the grosser growing ones, is now 

 becoming general among amateurs, as that of engrafting the 

 truncatiis on the t riangularis ; the Jenkinsonii, May-fly, 

 and fine varieties of the Epiphyllum on the Opuntia micro- 

 dasys ; and the fine varieties of Cereus on the Cereus cylin- 

 dricus. The Cactus Periakia is also an excellent stock for 

 many kinds of Cactus, as the Epiphyllums, and some of the 

 lesser varieties of the Cereus. In grafting Cactus, one prin- 

 cipal object should be borne in mind to do the thing to per- 

 fection, namely, that the graft is to be improved in growth 

 and magnitude by the stock; as for instance, the Cactus trun- 

 catus being engrafted on the Iriangularis, forms a most 

 superb plant when fully grown. I saw some ten or a dozen 

 plants of this kind last year, at the green-house of Mr. Long- 

 worth, under the management of Mr. Sleath, of this place, 

 truly beautiful ; each plant formed a beautiful head trained in 

 a circular form, with pendulous branches, loaded with some 

 two hundred flowers each, and this in the winter, at a time 

 when few other plants were in flower. Such specimens 

 contrasted with the Echinocactus Eyriessii, or Turk's cap, 

 stuck on the stem of the Periskia aculeata, or Barbadoes 



