398 On the Treatment of Cactus speciosus, fyc. 



your insertion of these hints will secure to you the hearty 

 thanks of every one who, like myself, feels grateful for every 

 elegant addition which can be made to the harmless luxuries 

 of the table at a small expense. 



I remain, dear Sir, yours, &c. 



Anthony Todd Thomson. 

 91, Shane Street, May -SO. 1826. 



Art. XIII. On the Treatment of Cactus speciosus, speciosis- 

 simus, and other ornamental succulent Plafits. By Mr. W. 

 J. Shennan, Gardener to Major Morison, at Gunnersbury 

 Park. 



Sir, 



If you consider the following hints on flowering the Cactus 

 speciosus, speciosissimus, and other succulents, worthy of a place 

 in your Magazine, they are at your service. Two years ago a 

 friend of mine from the country was much surprised at seeing 

 our Cactus speciosus and speciosissimus flower so freely: he 

 said that he had some large plants of both sorts, but they 

 never flowered. 



I communicated to him the following observations on our 

 method of growing and flowering them ; and I have lately had 

 the satisfaction of hearing from him that they have this year 

 flowered remarkably well. The compost is loam and peat 

 with a little lime rubbish. We grow them in the stove until 

 they get a pretty good size, or until we want them to flower, 

 for they will flower at any age or size. In the month of June 

 or July we turn them out of doors into a warm sheltered situ- 

 ation, and perfectly exposed to the mid-day sun ; and there 

 they remain till we take in our tender green-house plants, when 

 we remove them to a shelf, or airy situation, in the green-house 

 for the winter. In the spring we remove them into the stove 

 or forcing-house, in succession, as we wish them to come into 

 flower. They will flower in the green-house ; but the flowers 

 are small, and the growth but slow, in comparison to those 

 that are removed into a higher temperature. Their flowering 

 depends, like most other things that flower upon their wood 

 made the preceding year, upon its being well ripened and 

 matured in the sun and air, and kept perfectly free from shade. 

 C. speciosus fruits freely with us, and ripens its fruit about 

 three months after flowering. C. speciosissimus requires longer 



