PEEFACE 



Host subjects connected with horticulture, as in other depart, 

 ments of literature, have been so thoroughly exhausted by numerous 

 writers that there is little room for additional contributions. It is 

 strange, however, that no treatise in the En^ish language has hitherto 

 been solely devoted to the large, peculiar, and interesting family of 

 Cactaceous plants which long held a prominent position in popular 

 estimation. Much has been written respecting them by skilled 

 botanists and cultivators, but the information they have afforded is 

 scattered through so many works and .periodicals that it is inaccessible 

 to the majority of amateurs and gardeners. Being persuaded that 

 there are stiU many admirers of these plants I have endeavoured in 

 the following pages to give a brief review of the whole family, 

 noting the most handsome species, their culture and history, as 

 succinctly as possible, to compress the work into a compass that 

 would admit of its sale at a small price. A period of several years' 

 study in the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, afforded me special facilities for 

 observing the characters and requirements of the Cacte«, and the 

 information thus obtained, together with many facts my position on 

 the editorial staff of the Jom-nal of Horticulture has enabled me to 

 gain, is embodied in the treatise now submitted to the public— L. C. 



Novetnber 10th, 18S4. 



