24 



CACTUS CULTURE FOK, AMATEURS, 



shading them from bright sunshine. After growth is finished they 

 should be allowed more air and all the sunlight possible. During 

 winter little water is needed, sufficient to prevent shrivelling. 

 Excess of moisture in winter often kills the roots and causes the 

 plant to rot off at the collar. The lowest temperature in winter 

 should be 50 deg. ; in mild weather it might be 5 deg. higher. 



The stems may be trained either in the form of a fan or as a bush. 

 Old branches which have flowered and are shrivelling may be cut 

 away in the spring. 



Tig. 8. Phyllocactus Akerxnaanl. 



Fine specimen plants have been grown in pockets on walls 

 inside lean-to greenhouses, where the conditions have been favour- 

 able to healthy growth. Good plants have also been grown planted 

 at the foot of a sunny wall in bric\ rubble in a warm greenhouse. 



The genus has grown largely in favour during recent years, 

 several nurserymen having made a feature of it at exhibitions, &e. 

 A group of about five hundred plants, showing a wide range of 

 shades of colour and including some most lovely new seedlings, 

 was the most attractive exhibit at the great show of the Royal 



