10 CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 



They are sold, too, at snch moderate prices that they are within the 

 reach of all. As room plants indeed they are unexcelled, for though 

 Ihey do not possess the brilliant and profuse flowers of Pelargoniums 

 and other ordinary softwooded plants, they never bear the sickly and 

 miserable aspect that such too often do when they have been long 

 grown indoors. 1 would by no means advocate the exclusion of the 

 ordinary popular window plants, bui as a reserve force the Cactese are 

 invaluable. 



Tcmpn'ature. — Where a large and mixed collection of plants is grown 

 in one house, species from widely diifering positions and climates have to- 

 submit to a uniform system of culture as regards temperature ; but this, it 

 appears, is not a particular disadvantage, for if a few general rules are 

 observed these plants will thrive under any reasonable treatment. The" 

 delicate forms of Mamillaria, the robust Cereus, and the most tropical of 

 the Echinocaotus can be grown together in a house to which no heat is 

 applied during the winter except to exclude frost, but then they should be 

 kept very dry and must be placed in warmer quarters in the spring to start 

 them into growth. There is an extensive collection which has been so 

 treated for some years with good results, but they are under the care of an 

 experienced cultivator who has devoted a life to the study of their pecu- 

 liarities, and anyone who is not familiar with such plants would act un- 

 wisely in testing them so severely. The safest winter minimum tempera- 

 ture is 60° to 55° for all the tropical species, the half-hardy, and in wet 

 districts even the hardy sorts, being preferably wintered in a frame where 

 they can be protected from frost. From March onwards the temperature- 

 may be raised to 70° or 80°, while with sun heat it may be increased to 90°. 

 In the height of summer, by which time the growth of the majority of 

 the species will be completed, the house or frame must be fully ventilated, 

 and no shade wUl be required. A free exposure to the sun is as requisite 

 to consolidate the growth of these plants as in the case of most fruit trees. 

 In the autumn the temperature may be gradually reduced as the external 

 heat diminishes, 60° to 65° by day, and 60° to 55° at night, suiting all the 

 family. 



Soil. — It is a general idea that for these plants a special and elaborate 

 compost is absolutely indispensable, yet they can all be satisfactorily grown 

 in ordinary loam and sand provided the latter be added in sufiicient pro- 

 portion to render the whole thoroughly porous, and there is no doubt^ 

 whatever that the conventional lime rubbish is often employed in quanti- 

 ties that aro positively injurious. In the case of delicate plants the pieces- 

 of broken bricks used may occasionally have a bad effect by attracting and 

 retaining the moisture near the roots, and the lime in excess has a tendency 

 to diminish the porousness of the soil. A smaU proportion of lime should. 



