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CACTACEOUS PLANTS MULTIPLIED BY SEED. 
A large and important, because extremely interesting, portion of the tribe 
Cact(B has long- been confined to the collections of the wealthier classes of horticul- 
turists, on account of the tardiness with which they propagate themselves. All 
those with spherical heads, or large and thick stems, require to be much mutilated, 
and their appearance rendered any thing but ornamental, before the slightest hope 
of obtaining a progeny from them can be entertained. And even in such a case, 
success is sometimes doubtful, always protracted, and occasionally the operation of 
decapitating the plant proves fatal to it. 
To supply the deficiency in this country of a sufficient number of specimens to 
furnish the collections of the numerous lovers of the tribe, an immense quantity of 
plants has at various times been introduced from their native districts ; but these, 
owing to the want of consideration on the part of the collectors, in detaching them 
from their natural situations without any regard to their principal and most vitally 
important roots, have very generally perished a few months after their introduction, 
and their owners have never, till very recently, extracted and sown the seeds with 
which they are usually furnished. 
During the last and present years several cultivators, however, have adopted 
the latter expedient, and we observe with pleasure that they have been eminently 
successful ; so much so indeed, that we anticipate, in the course of a few years, 
many of these rare and curious plants will become as common in our collections as 
the beautiful Cactus speciosus and others of the same kind now are. 
To promote this most desirable object, we will now state, that seeds which can 
be matured in the stoves of this country, as well as those obtained from imported 
plants, will vegetate freely, if sown in pans, in a light sandy soil, and these latter 
plunged in a gentle bottom heat. As soon as the plants appear above the surface, 
they should be immediately potted into small sixty-sized pots, in a very sandy soil, 
and watered very slightly with lukewarm water. They may be kept in a gentle 
heat, (bottom heat is the most suitable, provided it is not accompanied with too 
much moisture,) and retained in this situation till they have attained a sufficient 
size to require potting into larger pots, when they may be removed to the succulent 
house, and treated as the old plants. 
Several years will elapse before they are large enough to develop their true 
characters, but at the expiration of this time the plants, if properly treated, will 
be in a most healthy and vigorous state, and by continuing to treat them judiciously, 
no danger of losing them need be apprehended. We have noticed this method as 
one which deserves to be generally known, and, where practicable, immediately and 
extensively adopted. 
