ON THE CULTIVATION OP CACTI IN MCSS- 
251 
about tbree feet high, with heads nearly two feet in diameter, and which produce 
from two to three hundred flowers every time they bloom, which they generally do 
about three times a year. These plants are g-rown in pots in the usual way. 
Mr. Green, g-ardener to Sir E. Antrobus, Bart., one of the best cultivators of 
the cactus in the vicinity of London, has a most excellent article on this subject in 
Vol. I, Part v., second series of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, 
which for the benefit of those who do not possess the Transactions, we shall 
transcribe. 
" The compost that I use," observes Mr. Green, " is an equal quantity of light 
turfy loam, and pigeon's dung, and one third sheep's dung, exposing the mixture 
one year to the influence of the summer's sun and winter frost to mellow. When 
wanted for use, I add one third of sandy peat, in both cases mixing them well 
together, 
" I grow the young plants from February to July, in the forcing flower-house 
kept from 55" to 60° Fahrenheit. I afterwards remove them to a shelf in an airy 
situation in the greenhouse, exposed to the mid-day sun, giving them plenty of air 
and little water. The plants that I want to flower the following September, are 
placed in the forcing house the first week in December, giving them very little 
water for the first ten days, and gradually increasing the water as the plants advance 
in growth. About the 1st of February I stop all the young shoots, which soon 
become well ripened ; from this time I decrease the quantity of water until they 
become quite dry, in order to throw the plants into a state of rest. In the 
beginning of March I replace them in a cold shady situation in the greenhouse, 
treating them as before. For plants to flower in August, I place a quantity more 
in the forcing house the first week in January, treating them the same as those for 
September ; only they are put to rest in the greenhouse a fortnight later, and 
replaced in the forcing house one week sooner. 
" The first flowering plants are put in the forcing house the end of January, and 
will come in flower about the middle of March. When these plants have done 
flowering, and are removed from the drawing-room, or greenhouse, I prune out 
most of the old shoots that have flowered, so that the plants are furnished regularly 
whh. young shoots for flowering the ensuing year ; these plants are also placed in 
the forcing house for ten days, to ripen the young wood and dry up the moisture, 
and are then put to rest in the greenhouse as usual : such plants will flower a 
second time in October. Others put in the forcing house the middle of February 
will flower about the end of April ; if then pruned, and dried, and put to rest as 
before, they will flower a second time in November, and so on in proportion. I 
repot them at all seasons whenever the plants may require it, always observing to 
keep the pots well drained with potsherds, that the moisture may pass off readily. 
This process may be considered troublesome, but superior growth, and abundance of 
flowers, amply repay the care bestdwed. By the above treatment, C speciosiis and 
Jenkinsoni have generally produced from ninety to a hundred fine expanded 
flowers, at one year old. The plants that I brought to the Society (May 21, 1833,) 
were about two years old ; the C speciosus bore two hundred flowers, C. specio- 
