Culture qfCactece. 85 



is, to hold the pot up to the brim in a deep vessel filled with not too cold 

 water, until no more bubbles rise up from it. This proceeding may be made 

 use of to great advantage, immediately after having repotted any sort of 

 Cacteae. In dull weather, however, this soaking through of the mould is not 

 advisable, although all the superfluous water should run off immediately from 

 below : but it is of great benefit in hot weather, when it is sufficient for 

 several days, as no more watering is required until the soil is again dry. 



§ 10. In respect to the winged cereuses, the rhipsalises, and pereskias, they 

 can withstand much more moisture than any others of the Cactese, and require, 

 for blooming, a strong heat, with comparatively little sunshine. This is fol- 

 lowing Nature herself, as they live in their native country in damp shady 

 forests, mostly as epiphytes, when melocactuses, echinocactuses, cereuses, and 

 opuntias, are preferably found on the most sunny places of the coasts, and in 

 hot, sunburnt, and stony plains. 



§11. The art of propagating Cactese has made such rapid progress in mo- 

 dern times, that sorts of which there had only been single specimens in few 

 collections for many years, are now propagated, and will soon be obtainable by 

 amateurs. The melocactuses only cannot be subjected to the common rule (see 

 § 12.), and are almost always propagated by seed, whereby it sometimes hap- 

 pens that degenerations take place. All other Cacteae may be cut in two, at 

 the proper season, without danger ; and, when potted with care, it is generally 

 the case that the cut off piece forms a better specimen than the mutilated one 

 was. Mammillarias and echinocactuses, scarcely the size of a walnut, are fit 

 for making cuttings, and grow with more ease and certainty at this time: in 

 the same way, even the oldest plants succeed ; for example, cereuses with an 

 axis of wood from one to two inches in diameter ; in short, it is a generally 

 practicable proceeding, and yet requires some care. Echinocactuses and ce- 

 reuses shoot out generally from the knots (where the spines are) : mammillarias, 

 on the contrary, shoot from between .the teats, sometimes out of the teats 

 themselves. These shoots may be taken off" very soon ; and the smaller they 

 are, the sooner they will be found to root. The same way of propagating may 

 be adopted for kpismiums, rhipsalises, and pereskias. Epiphyllums, hariotas, 

 and opuntias are easily propagated, by separating and taking off one or two 

 articulations in the joints. 



§ 12. Each part of a Cactus intended to form a new plant, whether it be a 

 cut off head, or a taken offshoot, must, according to the different state of the 

 weather, lie from one to eight days exposed, if possible, -to the sun, to dry the 

 cut completely. I never found it necessary to powder with coal-powder or 

 brickdust, and but very seldom lost a cutting or taken off head, except when 

 the weather, immediately after cutting, became dull and wet for a long time.. 

 I even cannot believe- that the striking of the cuttings will be advanced by 

 plunging thepots into a hot-pit; on the contraryj the surest method appears to 

 me to be to expose the newly potted cuttings to a most concentrated sun-heat, 

 by placing them under a sloping light of the green-house, and it does no harm, 

 although the pots get so hot that they can scarcely be touched. 



§ 13. When the cuttings are duly dry, they must be potted into as small 

 pots as possible ; . and the same cautions I mentioned when speaking of re- 

 potting well observed. Some put cuttings into somewhat moist soil, and let 

 them stand for a fortnight without watering ; but I always plunge the pots of 

 my cuttings, immediately after potting, once into water, and keep them in it 

 till they are completely saturated ; after which I let them stand for twenty-four 

 hours in the shade. I then bring them to the sun, not watering at all till all 

 the mould is completely dry. Which of these methods is the better, I do not 

 know ; the first may, perhaps, be the surest in doubtful weather, and an ad- 

 vanced season ; but the latter, at all events, will lead soonest to the purpose. 

 Besides, I have tried, as an experiment, to take cuttings of several Cacteae last 

 winter. I potted them about Christmas, and, after a good plunging into water, 

 placed the pots upon a heated stove, where they soon got dry ; and, by a good 

 daily supply of water, began to strike roots in the course of about a week. 



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