488 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
on a lawn being a suitable place; if planted in 
a mixed border they should be set in sufficiently 
large groups to be effective, and their root-space 
should be kept free from the encroachments of 
their neighbours. The soil for them should be 
well trenched, and if manure is needed it should 
be mixed with the lower spit. A mulch of 
short, well-rotted dung or leaf-soil should be 
given every year in May. The plants are un¬ 
fortunately subject in some soils to a fungus 
disease which attacks the stems at the surface 
of the soil. A good dressing of lime is recom¬ 
mended as a preventive. It is also advisable 
to discard those sorts which are worst affected 
by this disease. The plants should be lifted, 
trimmed, and replanted if possible in new soil 
about every three years. 
Propagation .—It is easy to multiply these 
plants by means of cuttings taken from the 
base of cut-down plants. They should be 
placed in a cutting frame in slight heat and 
kept close as for cuttings of Chrysanthemums. 
When rooted they should be planted in a 
nursery bed for a year, where they will grow 
into nice stocky plants, ready for the lawn-bed 
or border, in March or April. They can also 
be raised from seeds sown in a little warmth in 
March. The seedlings should be grown on in 
a nursery-bed until strong enough to plant in 
borders, &c. Of course seedlings cannot be re¬ 
lied upon as regards colour. The stems are 
veiy brittle and easily broken by gusts of 
wind; they should therefore be staked early. 
In dry weather they require a daily watering. 
If the stools show a tendency to over-pro¬ 
duction of stems in spring, the superfluous 
ones should be taken off and used, if required, 
as cuttings. In planting the beds, a distance of 
about 18 inches between each plant is desirable, 
and this may prove too close for sorts that 
grow with great vigour. No plants are better 
adapted for filling large beds which have been 
devoted to summer bedding-plants, such as 
Geraniums, Calceolarias, &c. There are hun¬ 
dreds of named sorts; the following is a good 
selection:— 
White. ■— * Albatre, Amazon, Bayardere, * Berenice, 
* Eden, *Fille d’Eve, * La Neige, Lawrence, Niphetos, 
* Purity, Sylphide, The Queen. 
White with red eye .—Captain Jackson, Countess of 
Aberdeen, Countess of Minto, * Espoir, Longchamps, 
Princess of Wales. 
Pink. — Alhambra, Baccante, * Belvedere, Eclaireur, 
Gilbert, Hamlet, Marquise de Breteuil, Molihre, Mozart, 
Mrs. Gladstone, Parthenon, Regulus. 
Red .—Angus M‘Leod, Claude Gillie, Coquelicot, Etna, 
James Grieve, L’Eclair, Montagnard, * Pandore, Roi 
des Roses, Sesostris, Surprise, Tom Welsh. 
Purple or blue. —Acropole, Balzac, Bayard, Chateau¬ 
briand, Duguesclin, Iris, Lamartine, Ledru Rollin, Le 
Malidi, Le P. Hacquart, Montrose, Suffrage. 
Variegated. —Alcesti, Atlante, Crepuscule, E. Danzan- 
villiers, Papillon, * Tunisie. 
* These are less than 2 feet high. 
Phyllocactus. —A very showy genus of 
hothouse plants, well deserving more care and 
attention than they usually receive. They are 
chiefly of hybrid orison, the largest and best 
Fig. 596.—Phyllocactus crenatus. 
varieties being mainly descendants from P. 
crenatus (fig. 596), P. grandis, and P. Icitifrons. 
The rich-coloured Cereus speciosissimus is also 
responsible for some of the most brilliant tints. 
They have flattened, notched stems, no true 
leaves, and the flowers are produced from the 
notches on the upper portion of the last-matured 
growths. For soil, a light, yellow, fibrous loam, 
a fourth part of leaf-mould and a sprinkling of 
brick and mortar rubble and coarse white sand 
form a suitable mixture. They do not thrive if 
over-potted, and, like all plants of the Cactus 
order, they require a season of rest in a dry 
atmosphere, and also to be kept dry at the roots, 
scarcely needing water at all for three months 
in winter. Propagation by seed, obtained, if 
possible, from cross-fertilized flowers, may result 
