596 



HARDY CACTUSES IN THE OPEN GROUND. 



flourishes much better when growing in masses, and 

 makes a brilliant show when so grouped. 



Careful pruning prevents the plants from becoming 

 long and straggling, August being the best time. When 

 the plants are out of flower, propagating may be effected 

 by grafting and by layers. By the latter method a few 

 of the lower branches are pegged down to the soil, and 

 they may be removed and transplanted the second year. 

 One plant was introduced years ago into Great Britain, 



where it flourished in great luxuriance. By hybridizing 

 it with an Asiatic species, which has far more brilliancy 

 of color than our own, but is not hardy, a variety has 

 been obtained combining the two very important char- 

 acteristics of hardiness and gorgeous display of flowers, 

 thus making the rhododendron a most valuable acquisi- 

 tion to our garden shrubs, and justifying the great atten- 

 tion given it in Europe. 



Walter Deane. 



HARDY CACTUSES IN THE OPEN GROUND. 



THE illustrations (Figs, i, 2 and 3), drawn from 

 nature, represent beds on a country place 

 near Cornwall, Orange county, New York, 

 and show an interesting ornamental device. The 

 rocks are entirely artificial in their arrangement, 

 being brought from the mountain side on the place 

 to hide a wall which occupies a most conspicuous 

 position near the entrance. 



These rocks form, by their roughness, a most agree- 

 able contrast to the smooth lawn seen beside them ; 

 and although picturesque in shape, and covered with 

 lichens and mosses, they differ in no way from the stones 

 that abound in the region. The most interesting par- 

 ticular about the rocks is a growth of the common 



hardy cactuses [OpunUa 

 vulgaris) that thrives up- 

 on them. A few sods were 

 placed in two of the 

 crevices near the top of 

 the rocks, and pieces of 

 the prickly pear planted 

 in them three years ago. 

 The dryness and expos- 

 ure soon killed the grass, 

 but the season being 

 favorable the cactuses 

 grew wonderfully, and 

 since then have produced 

 a brilliant show of yellow 

 flowers every year, be- 

 sides displaying their 

 quaint growth at all sea- 



- - sons. Visitors rarely fail 



l|i.^',p|j i,j,V(t>7?:^ , , ' 1/ to remark them, and the 



^-^'^ ■ •' ' •• ' ' ^ 1 , ^ majority are astonished 



Fig. 2. An Opuntia Well to ^earn that they thrive 

 Placed without protection in a 



climate so severe. They 

 are subjected to a heat in summer often exceeding 

 100° Fahrenheit, and in winter, to a temperature as low 



as 10° below zero ; still they never looked better than 

 now. As cold weather approaches the plants shrivel and 

 turn brown, falling flat upon the rocks, and no form of 

 vegetation has a more dead and miserable appearance ; 

 bnt when the warmth of spring revives them, they again 

 absorb moisture and become a brilliant green, lifting 



Fig. 3. A Rock Vignette. 



their outer lobes erect, or spreading further upon the 

 rocks. 



An interesting bed can often be made by grouping 

 cactuses about some central object on a lawn, in an 

 irregular way. This arrangement is usually more 

 admired than strictly geometrical forms. It is better not 

 to remove the plants from the pots, as the latter can 

 easily be buried out of sight. There is less work about 

 this kind of a bed than any that can be made ; the 

 result, however, is largely dependent upon the beauty 

 of the individual plants, and the taste employed in 

 arranging them. The plants should be of good size, 

 and sufficiently abundant to make their peculiarities 

 effective. Flowers destroy the symmetry of a regular 

 bed, but in one of this kind their presence, in greater or 

 less abundance, is always welcomed. A dry and open 

 situation is to be preferred ; and a spot where nothing 

 else will grow, can often be covered in this manner and 

 made most attractive, without doing violence to that 

 harmony which should govern ornamental planting. 



J. DeWolf. 



