G1 
The JWituralists' Conipuiiioii. 
Cacti. 
('acti liave imieli to recoinuiend them 
to the lovers ot the curious and the 
beautiful, the majoritv i)ossess very 
valuable eliaraeter— i. e., they are easi¬ 
ly grown, so easily in faetthat anyone 
who ean onh' devote a small space to 
them in his window may grow them 
successfully. In the dry and heated 
atmosphere of a room which is so try¬ 
ing to most plants they are t><^i‘l’Gctly 
at home, and their demands upon the 
attention of their host are so slight 
that they may be left for weeks, nay, 
months, without the smallest supply 
of water. Few people have an oppor¬ 
tunity to see a collection containing 
most of the best varieties. It is by 
contrast with each other that they can 
best be displayed to advantage. To a 
lover of Cacti there is a real fascination 
in admiring the beautifully colored 
spines of many of the P^diinocacti as 
well as of the Mamillarias. The bloom¬ 
ing of Cereus grandijiorus is certainly a 
sight worth seeing. Some of the Ma¬ 
millarias seldom grow more than a few 
inches in height, while many Cereus 
are found in their native haunts meas¬ 
uring upwards of tifty feet high. Many 
of the flowers possess a powerful and 
most pleasing fragrance. They vary 
much in size as well as in colors. Some 
ofthe Cereus will often, produce flowers 
measuring twenty inches across. When 
the brilliantly colored rose, crimson, 
purple or yellow flowers are seen, the 
observer is literally charmed with them. 
The fruit, or seed pods, are very orna¬ 
mental and in some cases are edible. 
That Echinocactus visnagai^ used as 
a lemon and a pleasant beverage is 
made of it. The seed pod of E. simp- 
soni is aiii’ceable to the taste, remind¬ 
ing one of a good-sized gooseberry. Of 
Cereus speciossimus and Opuntia vulgaris 
the fruit may be eaten as well. They 
also add greatly to the beauty of the 
plant when not in bloom. We have 
seen specimens Mamillaria applanata 
covei’ed with over one hundred brilliant 
coral fruits, lasting for months. In 
Echinocactus texcnsis the large red seed 
pods are also much admii-ed. E.wis- 
lizenii has fruit of a lemon color, which 
is also very pleasing. The spines gen¬ 
erally form the beauty of the plant. 
An engraving cannot convey their 
beauty or diversifled colors. When 
held to the light many of them show 
all the colors of the rainbow. Some 
have broad flat spines regularly ribbed, 
some straight, others curved, then 
again some are as sharp as needles, and 
more so. A few may be handled with 
i m p u ni tV, such as Mamillaria senilis — 
as delicate as a ball of cotton, and M. 
micromis which looks like an embroid¬ 
ered button. Others are terrors to 
handle. Most ofthe Cactaceous plants 
are natives of North and South Amer¬ 
ica, principally of Mexico. Only a 
limited number are found in South 
America. California, Nevada, Utah 
and Arizona produce some very fine 
species, while even in Montana we find 
some hardy varieties, and yet it is a cu¬ 
rious fact that until recently it was im- 
possiple to buy from any one dealer in 
the United States more than fifty or a 
hundred varieties, while over a thous¬ 
and varieties are known at the present 
time, d'o.get these, some ten or fifteen 
foreign houses must be drawn upon, as 
it would require many thousands of miles 
and years of travel to collect even half 
that number in their native haunts. 
This fact naturally increases their value 
to some extent.— BlanCs catalogue. 
