178 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
with a cleai’, somewhat strong, solution of soot and lime, 
forcibly applied with a garden-engine and syringe. 
Many so-called inventions are brought out for the 
benefit of gardeners and amateurs; let the fanciful 
ladies and gentlemen have the intricate and the beau¬ 
tiful ; give me the plain and the simple. R. E tsh. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
CactacejE for the Cottage Window and Shall 
Greenhouse. —Some time ago I directed attention to 
the EpiphyUum truncatum as one of our most beautiful 
winter-flowering conservatory plants. Nothing in the 
shape of a remonstrance came from our good friend 
Mr. Appleby; and, thus emboldened, we jump his spiked 
fence again, consoling him with the assurance that he 
may reciprocate the liberty of snatching a stray article 
from our grounds, provided we do not catch him there. 
The fact is, that these Cacti are frequently a cause of 
contention at our local horticultural exhibitions. Here 
is one man contending that a collection of greenhouse 
plants should be nonsuited, without the ceremony of a 
trial by judge or jury, because it contains Cacti, which, 
with very few exceptions, are all natives of Central and 
South America, and the adjacent warm islands, and 
which, therefore, when not shewn by themselves, ought 
to be arranged, along with other tropical compeers, 
among the stove collections. There is another gentle¬ 
man battling as stoutly, that a collection of stove-plants 
containing Cacti ought at once to be disqualified, be¬ 
cause such plants are grown successfully in our mode¬ 
rately-heated greenhouses, and even in our cottage 
windows. The facts relied on are correct on both sides. 
The conclusions arrived at, the opposite of each other. 
Nothing less than an editorial we could satisfy the belli¬ 
gerents, and failing that, and unable to get the knot 
untied satisfactorily, like wise men, they cut it asunder, 
by giving up their separate shows of stove and green¬ 
house plants, and placing them lovingly together under 
the title of Miscellaneous. 
The genus Cactus was, some time ago, cut up into 
several genera, which may more truly be considered 
mere subdivisions of each other. So far as yet has been 
tried, they freely amalgamate or hybridise with each 
other, and thus a vast field of new varieties may 
be looked for. Popularly, the group may be divided 
iuto the globe Cacti, the tall , and the trailing Cacti. 
The first are again divided into Echinocacti, generally 
small, roundish, ribbed plants, with bunches of spines 
on the ribs, and the flowers appearing there near the 
crown or apex; the monstrous ones some time ago 
introduced to Kew as the visnaga, belong to this section. 
The Melocacti resemble the foregoing in being ribbed 
and spined, but they have a tuft of downy matter at the 
apex, greater or less, aud from thence exclusively the 
flowers proceed. Mamillaria consists of an assemblage 
of little bundles or nipples, bearing spines at their ex¬ 
tremities, and the flowers appearing between them. The 
smaller and hardier of either of these are well fittted for 
windows, where the proprietor would rather have what i 
is uncommon, in preference to what is more usual, 
though more strikingly beautiful. 
Leaving out of consideration, for the present, the 
jointed Opuntias, the two sub-divisions of Cercus and Epi- 
phyllum present the greatest encouragement to the small 
1 greenhouse and window gardener. The former is very 
varied in its species; the shoots of some being round 
and cord-like, and others more cut up into angles, and 
all supplied with spiny bristles. The shoots of the 
EpiphyUum are always more or less broad and leaf-like, 
f’roperly speaking, however, the title is a misnomer, as 
[June 19 
j it means “ upon the leaves,” signifying that the flowers 
are so produced; while, in reality, if there be leaves at 
all, they must consist solely in the bract-like, scaly sub¬ 
stances which surround the buds. 
Now, beautiful, nay, almost surpassingly so, as these 
plants are in bloom, little comparatively is known of 
their management by our window gardeners, and, con¬ 
sequently, a plant well-bloomed is all the more an object 
of attraction. In the generality of seasons, however, 
we do not think there is anything to prevent their 
success, when once they clearly see through the mode 
of management. Taken altogether, perhaps, the Cercus 
J speciosissimus is the most splendid of the group. It does 
not bloom so freely and easily as the EpiphyUum trun¬ 
catum, or Ackermanii, or Jenkinsonii, or Speciosa, or 
even its near neighbour Cereus fulgens; but then the 
size of the flower, and the richness of the colouring, 
transcend all others, if we except, for the short time 
they last, the night-blooming kinds. A young lady, two 
years ago, had a nice plant of speciosissimus, and had 
nursed it carefully for six years, but had never been 
rewarded with a single bloom, all the little protube¬ 
rances that appeared turning into shoots instead of 
flower-buds. Despairing of success, she kindly offered 
to exchange with us her fine plant for something that 
would yield her a certain amount of pleasure for the 
trouble bestowed. Thinking that the patience so praise¬ 
worthily bestowed should not be unrewarded, the prin¬ 
ciples of culture were shortly explained, and, last year, 
there was something approaching a jubilee of invitations 
to see the splendid blossoms, in another case, the ob¬ 
ject of interest was EpiphyUum Jenkinsonii. For its 
luxuriant barrenness it was threatened with the rub¬ 
bish-heap; but, owing to a little knowledge of the nature 
of the plant, and a fair portion of patience and attention, : 
it was lately seen in a tradesman’s window a perfect 
little gem, and smothered with flowers. Now, what has 
happened in these two cases, may take place in the ex¬ 
perience of each and every of our readers. It must be 
impressed upon their minds, however, that, to succeed, 
they must not treat a Cactus as they would do a Gera¬ 
nium or a Cineraria. They will be in no danger of 
doing this, if they recollect that the Cactus group, with 
few exceptions, is not found in the moist, shady valley, ! 
but exposed upon the crags, and sending its roots into 
the interstices of bare and barren rocks, under a tropical 
sun. Although thus exposed, without a drop of rain 
reaching them for many months, so extremely tenacious 
of life are these succulents, and so great their power 
of absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, that even 
when thus exposed, many will preserve a somewhat 
green and plump appearance, while others, whose powers 
of absorption are more feeble, will be attenuated, withered, 
and apparenly in the last stage of existence. No sooner, 
however, does the rainy season come, than our mummy- i 
like Cacti regain, by degrees, their pristine vigour, and 
putting out what was lately their latent flower-buds, 
bloom most profusely, receiving, at the same time, a suffi¬ 
ciency of stored-up nourishment to enable them to bear 
such another roasting season with impunity, nay, with 
absolute advantage, so far as flowering and seeding are 
concerned. 
Now, keeping these facts in view, the main points of 
culture will be at once indicated. They maybe resolved 
into the following :— First. Attention to drainage. There 
would be no stagnant water amid the chinks and debris 
of rocks. Secondly. The soil must be open and porous, 
and, for fine blooms, moderately rich. These things se¬ 
cured, the component parts are a mere matter of fancy 
and detail. I generally use three parts of sandy loam, 
and one part of each of the following:—Lime rubbish, 
charcoal, aud old dried cow dung. Thirdly. The soil 
should not be too plentiful, and, consequently, the 
pots for the size of the specimens should not be large, . 
