SUCCULENT PLANTS. 
209 
a little air may be introduced to carry off the vapour exhaled. Drought is, in 
fact, the greatest essential to succulents from the month of September to that 
of May. 
Before the Cacti have fairly begun to develop themselves in the spring, and 
exactly at the time when they may be daily expected to do so, they are to be 
shifted into a fresh pot ; if, upon turning them out of the old one, they are dis- 
covered to have filled it with roots, or to be in an unhealthy condition. In the 
former case, a larger pot must be selected, but a very slight shift will be needed, 
as it has been already asserted that they have but a scanty supply of roots. 
Supposing the earth to be loaded with fluids, or unduly compressed together, it 
will be best to shake it entirely from the roots, and replace it by a new compost 
in a pot of less dimensions. If the fibres have not reached the outside of the ball 
of soil, and this last appears loose and properly permeable by liquids, any transfer- 
ence would be unsafe under such circumstances. 
For potting succulents, a soil containing one-third sandy loam, one-third 
broken lime rubbish, one-sixth heath-mould, and the rest silver-sand, will form an 
excellent medium. Plants that are very healthy may be allowed a little more 
loam. The necessity for a large proportion of lime-rubbish or reduced sandstone 
cannot be too strongly enforced. Cacti frequently flourish among the debris of 
rocks, and in excessively stony or sandy places, and the paucity of their roots renders 
something of the sort indispensable to prevent moisture from collecting in the soil. 
It should further be forcibly impressed on the culturist that small pots are for 
many reasons to be employed exclusively, and in all instances. The common 
sense of every one will, moreover, apprise them, that with roots so few, so 
slender, and so brittle, the operation of potting ought to be most tenderly 
performed. 
Imported plants of the class of succulents here treated of are generally believed 
to be the most unsatisfactory members of a collection. They will at times continue 
to exhibit the same apparent exterior for three or more years, and will even perfect 
new additions to their substance, without having a solitary root, and while their 
base is absolutely rotting. The way to retain such specimens as long as possible is 
to take care that they rest on pieces of broken pot, and that no part of them comes 
in contact with soil or anything which can hold moisture. Indeed, it is a good 
plan with all the dubious specimens to keep nothing but potsherds directly below 
them ; and, unless they are very valuable, to plunge the pots containing them in a 
gentle bottom heat, which will soon test their capacity for future vegetation. 
With the reiterated declaration that the foregoing paper is directed only to the 
dwarf-growing Cactacese, we shall defer all additional directions on the subject 
till the November number. 
VOL. VII. — NO. LXXXI. 
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