— - Cactuses. — One of the nicest gardens near* 
Paris is that at Poissy, on the river Seine, belonging to 
M. Lorenzo Courant, a real amateur of plants, who 
has been very successful in the hyridising of Cactuses 
and Gladioli. His place is on the site of an old Com- 
manderie des Templiers, destroyed under Philippe le 
Bel, and made by him into an abbey. In the garden 
are still to be seen the remains of the “oubliettes,” 
or dungeons, which seem in olden times to have been 
mdis^sa^e in any whether a cas tle, ■ 
* ecemb3« 
1 prison, or even a monastery. With this exception 
t there is very little left of the old buildings. Attached 
1“ to the house is a conservatory of good size, with some 
! good specimens of Tree Ferns, Palms, Adiantums, 
&c. The conservatory unfortunately is completely 
‘ bare of climbing plants or hanging baskets, so that it 
i looks a little bare. Facing the conservatory is a 
good sized “jardin Anglais,” with some fine trees, an 
I Abies Pinsapo i8 metres high, a Cedar of Lebanon, 
only thirty-five years old, planted by the proprietor 
, himself. This tree is of a very large size, and looks 
a great deal older. There is a good collection of 
Conifers, all in good health. -From this we pass 
into the kitchen and flower garden, where are the 
houses. Here are several large beds of splendid 
Gladioli : most of them very good. Fine bushes 
of Tritoma Uvaria, ten to fifteen fine plants of 
Bambusa aurea, some good tuberous Begonias, a 
collection of Vines, comprising forty varieties, several 
houses containing Camellias, Azaleas, &c. ; and last ^ 
a lean-to house, with a collection of about a hundred 
Cactuses. They are planted out in this house and 
trained against the wall ; they seemed very vigorous, 
and we w;ere told they bloomed very freely. M. 
Courant began by crossing speciosissimus grandi- 
florus with Hookerii, and kept on crossing the off- 
spring from these. The flowers are most magni- 
ficent, and of a very large size. The following are 
the best amongst the lot 
Amabilis perfecta, good shaped flower, flesh-pink, with 
the interior of the corolla cherry-coloured. 
Aurantiaca superba, very brilliant, dark orange. 
Aurore boreale, brilliant yellow sepals, corolla cherry 
coloured. 
Boule de Feu. globular-shaped flower, yellow sepals, 
violet corolla. 
Marguerite Bock, very dark pearly lilac. 
Claire Courant, flesh-coloured. 
Courantii, pure white, outside petals of lemon-yellow. 
Eblouissant, very fine, purple-tinted violet. 
Ganymede, open flower, pinkish pearly lilac ; corolla 
of a brilliant cherry colour. 
Hannah Wilson, perfect flower, pearly light lilac. 
Madame Lemarchand, velvety pink ; corolla white. 
Rosea splendidissima, velvety pink ; corolla white. 
Miss Richardson, perfect shape, bright lilac. 
Alice Rosciand, red-orange. 
Jules Simon, dark orange, edged with velvety-purple 
lilac. 
Madame Simon, middle-sized flower, light carmine- 
lake, inside of corolla white. 
Triomphe de Poissy, tips of petals bright orange, 
edged with violet, pearly white. 
Thiers, middle-sized flower of perfect shape, numerous, 
petals red-orange, edged with dark violet. 
Madame Courant, large flower, velvety pink. 
These are really worth growing, and M. Courant 
offers cuttings to any one who may wish them. 
They are grafted very easily, and have been grown in 
several places in France with success. 
