OF GARDENING 199 
Dec. larity and Beauty ia them; but if they do, there , fail to. grow in the fame Place where they have ri- Dec, 
———- will be, befide their greater Elegance, the Certain- pen’d. 
ty of continuing them; for their Seeds will not 
5 MAMILLARY CACTUS. 
tens The Singularity of this Plant brought it To know the Clafs of this fingular Plant, the 
Fig. Z early from the warmer Climates, into our Ex- | Student muft carefully take off a Flower. Some 
glifo Gardens,. and all the late Writers have ce- 
brated it for the Peculiarity of the Form. 
Piuxenet has called it Ficoides, and Melocac- 
tus Mamillaris; Herman, Echino Melocaéus; 
and ComMELINE, Licoides, five Ficus Americana. 
Linn aus who has done great good. to the Sci- 
ence, by reducing, this large Genus, called by va- 
rious Names under one common Head, the 
Caéius ; adds, as the fpecifick Diftinction of this, 
Subrotundus teétus Tuberculis ovatis barbatis. Round- 
ifh covered Cactus, 
with oval bearded Tu- 
bercles, : 
The Root is divided, fpreading, and full of 
Fibres. 
The Plant irik at once from the Surface, 
_, without Stalks or Leaves; in Form of a globular 
This ri- 
green I Mafs, with an uneven Surface : 
fes in Height, alters its Form in nothing but 
that the whole becomes fomewhat oblong, and 
the rough Surface breaks into more diftinét Tu- 
bercles. 
When arrived at the full Growth, it is feven 
Inches high, bulky, cylindrick; nearly of equal 
Thicknefs throughout; and at the Top flatted. 
Its Colour, which was at the firft Appearance 
an obfcure Green, becomes now paler and bright- 
er, and toward the Ground i is often ftained with 
- Purple. 
The whole Surface is compofed of oval Tuber- 
cles, which are f{mooth on the Surface, cluftered 
at the Bafe, and arm’d at the Top with a radiated 
Crown of brown and glofly Thorns. 
This is a common Appearance of the Plant ; 
and in this State it is extremely pretty. 
The Flowers add little to its Beauty; their 
Colour is white, they are very minute, and they 
are placed among the Tubercles. But what the 
Flowers want in Elegance, Nature has given to 
the Fruits. 
Thefe grow gradually to a moderate Bignefs 
after the Flowers have fallen, and when perfect- 
ly ripe, and of a fine Crimfon lightly tinged with 
Purple. The Form is oblong, and from the 
Inftrument befide his Fingers will be needful for 
this Purpofe, for it is*well defended by the 
Thorns of the Tubercles. 
To have it entire, there fhould be cut tous ae 
it, the Top of the Rudiment of the fucceeding 
Fruit to which it adheres. 
There will be thus found a Cup at Nie naa 
form’d of a fingle Piece, but befet with little 
_ imperfect fealy Leaves, arm’d with Prickles. In 
this is placed the Flower, compofed of a ‘great 
Number of narrow white Petals, which naturally 
converge at their Points; they are difpofed in 
feveral Series: thofe of the inner Circle are af. 
ways longeft, and the feveral exterior gradually 
{maller. 
In the Centre are placed a great Number of 
Filaments : they are inferted into the Cup : with- 
in the tubular Part of this is placed the Bales, 
of the Style, from which it rifes fingle among | 
the Filaments. 
From this Examination, the Clafs of ie 
Plant in the Linn Zan Syftem will be at once de- 
termined, the Number of the Filaments refers it 
to the Icofandrious Tribe, becaufe they adhere to 
the Cup, ‘not the Receptacle; and the fingle 
Style fhews, that it is one of the firft SeGtion 
under that general Head the Monogynia. : 
The Filament that hangs from the Top of 
the Fruit, is the Remain of the Flower, and 
when tinged in any -confiderable Degree with 
red, *tis owing to the Juice. 
Culture of this Cactus, 
The Plant is a Native of the warmer Parts 
in America, where it covers the Surfaces of 
rocky Hills; the Seeds growing almoft wherever 
they fall, and the Plants in undifturbed Places 
thence crowding upon one another. 
_The proper Soil we fhould give it here, 
is indicated by the loofe barren Earth, in which 
it grows naturally in thofe Places, and the Cli- _ 
mate directs the Degree of Heat. 
It ripens Seeds freely with us under a proper 
End, there hangs a complex Fibre of a faint red | Management ; and may therefore be propagated 
Colour. 
The Juice of ihe Fir’ is Purple, and not ill 
safted, and the Seeds mixed among it are {mall 
and black. 
If the whole Plant be cut tranfverfely, it is 
found to be compofed of a tender Subftance, not 
unlike that of an unripe Cucumber, and of a 
ereenifh Colour, The Tafte is acrid, and there 
runs out a milky Juice from the exterior Part 
near the Bafes of the Tubercles, more fharp in 
Tafte, than the Fleth. 
| Pieces. 
by that Means. 
But frequently | without the Trouble of the _ 
Gardener, young Plants rife about the Bafe of 
the old one, from thefe Seeds dropp’d naturally ; 
and nothing fucceeds better than the replanting 
thefe. . 
~The Compoft I have found beft fui its 
Growth, is this; a Bufhel of dry Pafturé Earth, 
half a Bufhel of Sand, and a Peck of Marle, or 
“jn its Place fo much foft Chalk, well broken 0 
Inq 
