178 



THE SUCCULEXT HOUSE. 



SEMFERVITUM 



Is multiplied by cuttings and offsets of the smaller and more common 

 kinds, and the rarer by seeds, which they produce in abundance ; but as 

 they die in general after flowering, care must be taken that the seed is 

 saved, and sown immediately after it is ripe. 



Several species, beheved to be new, are growing vigorously in the 

 Claremont collection of Succulents, which contains nine hundred species, 

 and is supposed to be the richest in Britain. Plants of the larger species 

 of this genus flower beautifully when planted in the flower borders during 

 summer, but, of course, must be taken up and re-potted in the autumn. 



The propagation of plants of the natural order Cactece is different in 

 different genera of that order. 



MAMMILLARIA 



Is increased by seeds, imported or ripened in this country : some species, 

 such as coronata, ccespitosa, stella-aurata, &c., send out branches or offsets, 

 which when carefully separated from the plant readily strike root if kept 

 dry and moderately warm. Others do not so readily increase, except by 

 seeds. The only method at present known to remedy this, is by cutting 

 out individual mammillce, or teats, and laying them on the surface of 

 mould : keep them dry and covered with a bell glass, till they have begun to 

 make roots, when the glass should be removed, and soon after the plants 

 potted in xtry small pots, and placed on a dry shelf near the glass in the 

 Succulent house. The spring and summer is of course the most eligible 

 time for this operation. In some tall-growing sorts, such as eriacantM. 

 the top may be cut off about the thickness of a shilling, and the wound 

 healed by the application of finely-sifted charcoal, caustic, hme dust, <Scc., 

 being laid over it occasionally ; in some cases the plant wHl very soon 

 send out shoots from round the top, and at other rimes years may elapse 

 before this circumstance occurs. These young shoots, when they have 

 attained a proper size, may be carefully cut off and planted, when they 

 will make fine young plants after a rime. The same process may again 

 be practised on the old plant, by cutting off another thin slice from its 

 crown, and treating it as above. 



MELOCACTUS. 



The genus Melocactiis is the most dilScult to increase of all the CactecE : 



