188 



THE SUCCULENT HOUSE. 



form their woody axis : all the roots of these sections proceeding from 

 the axis, while the Opuntia and Epiphyllum^ whose young shoots are 

 analogous to leaves, throw out roots fi^om all parts of their surface." 



The following remarks from the same pen may be useful both to col- 

 lector and cultivator of this interesting family. " In gathering the Cacti 

 in their native wilds, the collector is often satisfied with pulling them up 

 by main force, without being aware how shghtly they are attached to 

 their central column : if the plant is firmly rooted, the fibres which con- 

 nect the column with the succulent part of the plant are broken in the 

 act of pulling them up, and the central column itself is often twisted or 

 broken asunder. The effect of such violence is often the death of the 

 plant, although it may appear in everj^ respect to be ahve and in a healthy 

 state. 



^' Hitherto collectors have been satisfied with transmitting seeds or 

 cuttings of cactaceous plants home ; but now that a taste for the cultiva- 

 tion of this grotesque and interesting family is obtaining in this country, 

 good specimens will be sought after, and the extreme danger of puUing 

 them up by force cannot be too seriously impressed on the attention of 

 collectors r in all cases, unless the plant be very small, the roots should 

 be cut with a sharp instrument, and as far from the stem as circumstances 

 will allow, but in no instance should they be twisted about. During last 

 summer a fine collection was brought over from IMexico by a Frenchman, 

 who lost some splendid specimens through his ignorance of this connection 

 of the central column with the plant. Mr. Harris bought some of the best 

 of the dead specimens for his cabinet, and very luckily I got seeds out of 

 all of them, and thus preserved them to the country : the seedUngs under 

 my care exceed ten thousand in number from this importation alone. In 

 young seedlings, sow them in pure sand, keep them constantly moist, and 

 transplant them as soon as you can get hold of them, in sand well drained : 

 give as much heat and moisture as your means will allow, and keep up 

 this stimulus till they have begun to form their woody centre, when they 

 must be more sparingly watered. As a means of extending the cultivation 

 of succulents in general, the hybridist should exercise his art. The Mesem- 

 hryantJiema might be crossed till they could vie with the Cinerarice, and 

 the Aloes tiH they surpass the GesnermJ^ 



We cannot sufficiently commend Mr. Harris for his great liberality in 

 possessing himself of these splendid accessions to the Cacti already known , 

 or Mr. Beaton for his zeal and intelhgence, displayed in obtaining the 

 seeds from many of the dead species of the melon-shaped kinds. The 



