358 MANUAL OF GARDENING 
same mixture of soil, setting each plant down to the seed-leaf. They 
will need three or four transplantings before they reach the blooming 
stage, and at each one after the first, the proportion of fibrous loam 
may be increased until the soil is composed of one-third each of loam, 
sand, and leafmold. The addition of a little well-rotted manure may 
be made at the last transplanting. 
Cactus. — Various kinds of cactus are often seen in small collections 
of house plants, to which they add interest and oddity, being different 
from other plants. 
Most cacti are easy to grow, requiring little care and enduring the 
heat and dryness of a living room much better than most other plants. 
Their requirements are ample drainage and open soil. Cactus growers 
usually make a soil by mixing pulverized plaster or lime refuse with 
garden loam, using about two-thirds of the loam. The very fine parts, 
or dust, of the plaster, are blown out, else the soil is likely to cement. 
They may be rested at any season by simply setting them away in a dry 
place for two or three months, and bringing them into heat and light 
when they are wanted. As new growth advances they should have 
water occasionally, and when in bloom, they should be watered freely. 
Withhold water gradually after blooming until they are to be rested. 
Some of the most common species in cultivation are the phyllo- 
cactus species, often called the night-blooming cereus. These are not 
the true night-blooming cereuses, which have angular or cylindrical 
stems, covered with bristles, while these have flat, leaf-like branches; 
the flowers of these, however, are very much like the cereus, opening 
at evening and closing before morning, and as the phyllocacti may be 
grown with greater ease, blooming on smaller and younger plants, they 
are to be recommended. 
The true night-blooming cereuses are species of the genus Cereus. 
The commonest one is C. nycticalus, but C. grandiflorus, C. triangu- 
laris and others are occasionally seen. These plants all have long 
rod-like stems which are cylindrical or angular. These stems often 
reach a height of 10 to 80 ft., and they need support. They 
should be trained along a pillar or tied to a stake. They are unin- 
teresting leafless things during a large part of the year; but in mid- 
summer, after they are three or more years old, they throw out their 
