182 



THE SUCCULENT HOUSE. 



genera Stapelia and EupTiorUa, and a few of the Cactem, all others are much 

 better when kept in a cool, dry, any greenhouse, than anywhere else : 

 nay, a cold pit, if not in a damp situation, will be a very proper habitation 

 for many of them ; and not a few, particularly of the famihes Sempervi- 

 vum and Mesemhryanthemum, stand in the open borders of our gardens 

 during the most rigorous frosts Avith which we have of late years been 

 visited, with the exception of the winter of 1837-8. 



Another very erroneous notion, which till of late has very generally 

 prevailed, is, that succulents should be planted in lime rubbish, gravel, or 

 similar porous matter, with a view to prevent them from growing too 

 rapidly, and also, that they should scarcely have any water given to them. 

 The truth of the matter is, that this singular and interesting tribe of 

 plants have been long neglected in this country, and placed in situations in 

 the greenhouse where little attention has been paid to them ; and many of 

 them, notwithstanding this treatment, have continued to Uve thus dis- 

 regarded and unnoticed, till their splendour, or the fragrance of their bloom, 

 aiTested, for a time, the attention of the owner : then they may have been 

 brought into a more favourable situation till their flowers had faded, when, 

 for the most part, they were consigned again to theu* old situation. Plants 

 requiring so Httle attention as this to keep them in existence, and the 

 only fear of losing them being fi'om an excess of damp, led the indolent 

 gardener to plant them where they were not hkely to suffer from this 

 cause, and at the same time rid himself of the trouble of attending to 

 them. Plants may exist for a long time under ven* bad treatment ; but 

 plants so circumstanced cannot be expected to flower well, or to attain 

 any very extraordinaiy habit, either of beauty or singulaiity. But the 

 same species of plants, treated in a more rational and favourable manner, 

 ■svill develope all their beauties and singularities to us in return. 



Succulent plants, in general, do not require much water during winter, 

 when they are in a dormant state ; but during spring and summer, when 

 they are growing vigorously, they requu-e as large a share of that element 

 as any other plants (not exactly aquatic). During winter, care must be 

 taken that they are not over-watered, and also that the house they are 

 grown in is water-tight, for many of the more dehcate would suffer if rain 

 drops were to faU into their centre, and more particulai'ly those that are 

 kept in a low temperature. A good way to supply many plants of this de- 

 scription with water is, by standing the pots in pans of water ; but this 

 is only to be understood as applicable to the most robust-growing sorts 

 during spring and summer ; and to the more delicate ones occasionally. 

 During spring and summer, they may be syringed over their tops once 



