JOUENAL 



OF THE 



Royal Horticultural Society. 



Vol. XVII. 1895. 

 Parts III. AtfB=3S5 



CACTACEOUS PLANTS. 

 By Mr. John W. Singer. 

 [Eead July 10, 1894.] 



In offering my experiences in cultivating the Cactus family it 

 must not be supposed that either a learned or a scientific treatise 

 will be given, but simply the result of some practical work coming 

 from my taking up the occupation as an amusement to employ 

 the mind, after retiring from a business which had engaged the 

 greater part of an active life for over forty years. Not liking to 

 be idle, I considered, " What shall I do, seeing my sons have 

 kindly put me on the shelf as to the active work and anxiety of 

 a large business ? " and my feelings said, " Collect and cultivate 

 cactaceous plants. They do not take up much room, few culti- 

 vate them, and there is thus the novelty of rarity." Besides being 

 tempted by the marvellous forms of many of these plants, the 

 bizarre appearance of others, to say nothing of the beauty of 

 their flowers, another recommendation was that their slow 

 growth allowed me to have double the number of plants in a 

 given house than of almost any other kind. 



I commenced my work by some kind friends giving me plants 

 of the more ordinary varieties, others being purchased as occa- 

 sion offered ; and, having been a considerable traveller in my 

 younger days, I knew how to collect from foreign growers, and 

 soon got together a fair collection of the rarer sorts obtaining 



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