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Gardening for Amateurs 



A remarkable Cactus (Cereus tricolor albus). 



Epiphyllums must be kept more or less 

 moist all the year round. 



and needs the same treat- 

 ment as recommended for 

 Crassula coccinea. 



Mammillaria. A race of 

 Cacti with cylindrical or glo- 

 bular stems, and particularly 

 remarkable for their sym- 

 metry as well as the almost 

 mechanical disposition of the 

 tubercles and the spines 

 with which each one is 

 crowned or terminated. The 

 Mammillarias thrive for years 

 without repotting, but when 

 necessary this should be done 

 in spring, using a compost 

 consisting of loam lightened 

 by some brick rubble and 

 sand. Careful watering at all 

 times is essential, and very 

 little is needed in winter. 



Mesembryanthemum. 

 There are more than three 

 hundred sorts of Mesembry- 

 anthemum, most of which 

 are natives of South Africa. 

 Some of the stemless species 

 are remarkably strange, not- 

 ably tigrinum, of which the 

 spiny leaves resemble a 

 tiger's mouth, while others 

 suggest a small heap of 

 stones. By far the showisst 

 kinds are those of branching 

 growth. Of all the Mesembryanthemums, 

 the most popular is Mesembryanthemum 



Gasteria. The Gasterias are nearly re- cordifolium variegatum, but this is culti- 



lated to the Aloes, and thrive under the same 

 cultural conditions. They are interesting 

 plants ; the thick fleshy leaves are often 

 mottled with various shades of green. In 

 some kinds the leaves have curious warts. 

 They grow slowly, and are well suited for 

 window plants. 



Kalanchoe. Kalanchoe flammea is a 



vated mainly for the sake of its white- 

 margined leaves. It is of free, spreading 

 habit of growth, and is much used for 

 summer bedding ; and the shrubby kinds, 

 which include among their number some 

 beautiful free-flowering species, are very 

 showy towards the latter part of the 

 summer. Among the best are M. aureum, 



delightful succulent plant, introduced within yellow ; aurantiacum, orange ; blandum, 



recent years from Central Africa. It forms pink ; coccineum, scarlet ; curviflorum, pink ; 



an upright-growing, fairly branched specimen, edule, yellow ; multiflorum, white ; specta- 



clothed with thick, dark green, tongue-like bile, purplish ; and violaceum, violet. All 



leaves. The flowers, which are borne in 

 large, branching, flattened heads, are not 

 unlike a Bouvardia in shape, and scarlet in 



belonging to this section thrive in ordinary 

 potting compost in a sunny greenhouse, while 

 the dwarf kinds require some brick rubble 



colour. It has already become very popular, mixed with the soil and drier conditions. 



