January 22, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
829 
AN HOUR WITH THE CACTI. 
At the ninth monthly meeting of the Preston and 
Fulwood Horticultural Society, held at the ‘ ‘ Legs of 
Man” Hotel, Fishergate, a paper ontheabove subject was 
read by Mr. John Atherton, the secretary. The chair 
was taken by the president, Edward Garlick, Esq., J.P., 
and at the close of the meeting a vote of thanks was 
accorded to Mr. Atherton for his instructive paper, 
from which we extract the following :—Of succulent 
plants there are 950 species 
or thereabout of Cacti alone, 
distributed through thir¬ 
teen genera. Besides these 
we have Aloes, Agaves, 
Yuccas, Echeverias, Semper- 
vivums, Sedums, Gasterias, 
Mesembryanthemums, and 
other things of a like nature, 
which, taken together, make 
a sum total of 2,000 species 
or more. The name Cactus 
was first employed by Theo¬ 
phrastus, and is a very old 
one, seeing that Theo¬ 
phrastus, who lived to the 
age of 106 years, died more 
than 2,000 years ago. 
It is true there is more 
real beauty in an English 
hamlet, where the great 
Oaks shelter the cattle and 
sheep, than in the dusty 
sunburnt plains, and the 
vast rolling deserts of sand, 
where thousands of these 
strange Cacti bask in the 
sun like basilisks, and 
appear weird and ominous 
in their gauntness and 
hardness, and their forbid¬ 
ding complexion and im¬ 
passiveness. In this last 
character they provoke and 
exasperate the weary travel¬ 
ler, who finds no rest or 
relief amidst the monotony 
of rigid leafless Cacti and 
roasting plains. Plants of 
this nature seem quite at 
home, and delight in the 
burning sunshine, where 
Pelargoniums and similar 
plants would shrivel into 
dust. The wild horses, to 
save themselves from dying 
of thirst, will kick the Cacti 
to pieces in order to suck 
the pulp. By the time the 
rainy season returns the 
wounds of the injured Cacti 
have been dried up, and 
they grow away again vigor¬ 
ously. Such is a brief de¬ 
scription of Cacti in their 
native home. 
To illustrate his paper, Mr. 
Atherton exhibited before 
the society some fifty species 
and varieties from his col¬ 
lection, so as to render his 
explanations more easy. 
He commenced with the 
American Agave, and said 
the generic name was derived 
from Agavos, admirable, in 
reference to the stateliness of the flower-stems. A. 
Americana is called by some the century plant, from 
the popular but erroneous belief, that it only flowers 
once in 100 years. The time it requires to get strong 
enough for flowering depends on cultivation ; and this 
state it attains in its native, or other tropical countries, 
in a few years. The old plant dies after flowering. 
One of these remarkable plants flowered some years ago 
at Claughton Hall, and was visited by a great many 
persons. The main stem runs up to a great height, and 
gives off lateral branches in a pyramidal fashion, bearing 
clusters of greenish yellow flowers that keep up a 
succession for several months. A full-grown leaf weighs 
about 12 lbs., and continues in health for many years. 
The plant has some economical value, and an ardent 
spirit called pulque is prepared from its juice ; a coarse 
fibre is made from the leaves, and an extract used as 
soap. He showed the variegated form and said that 
no plant was more useful for the decoration of terraces 
and halls. 
The true Aloes come chiefly from the Cape, and the 
Agave from America ; the former numbers more than 
eighty species, and ranges from 4 ins. in diameter to as 
Chrysanthemum Golden Gem. 
many feet. It is chiefly noted for the drug of the 
same name obtained from the juice. The best Aloes of 
commerce is obtained from A. Socotrana. Various 
methods of obtaining the drug are employed. The 
leaves are cut off and allowed to drain, or they are cut 
into pieces and boiled for ten minutes, when the water 
is evaporated. A. arborescens was shown and described 
as a common window plant; A. albospina, A. glau- 
cescens and A. humilis were also described ; A. inermis 
is a free-flowering species ; and A. variegata is extremely 
common in cottage windows. 
He next called attention to the genus Cereus, and 
described C. giganteus as forming enormous cylindrical 
columns 40 ft. to 50 ft. in height and 2 ft. in diameter, 
clothed with spines on the ribs, and believed that the 
boundary between Mexico and the United States was 
formed of several rows of these singular plants, which 
resemble telegraph posts, and live for hundreds of 
years. C. peruvianus flowered in his collection, and 
had pale primrose sweet-scented flowers about 5 ins. 
long. C. p. monstrosus he described as a most singular 
piece of vegetation. C. Mallinsoni is a slender-stemmed 
species, and the exhibitor testified to its free-flowering 
qualities by having bloomed 
a specimen with ninety of 
its rosy pink flowers. The 
Bat’s Tail, C. flagelliformis, 
is often grown in cottage 
windows. 
Echeveria is named after 
Echeveri, a botanical 
draughtsman, and the 
species of this genus are 
better known and more 
valuable, as evidenced by the 
thousands of E. secunda 
glauca used for bedding 
purposes. E. agavoides, E. 
scaphylla and E. retusa are 
useful, especially the latter, 
for winter-flowering. 
The Gasterias, closely 
allied to the Aloes, were next 
discussed and illustrated 
by G. verrucosa with long 
racemes of red and green 
flowers. The Opuntias are 
popularly known as Indian 
Figs, and have flattened, 
jointed, leaf-like stems. The 
lava from Mount Etna, is 
in many places covered 
with spiny bushes of O. 
vulgaris, whose purple juicy 
fruits are sold in the neigh¬ 
bouring markets. Mr. J. R. 
Jackson, of Kew, describes 
O. cochinilifera as deriving 
its name from the cochineal 
insect, which feeds upon the 
plant ; this species is now 
placed in the small genus 
Nopalea. Whole planta¬ 
tions of these Cacti exist in 
Mexico, New Granada and 
the Canary Islands. The 
bulk of the 2,000 tons of 
the cochineal insects annu¬ 
ally imported to this country 
are obtained from the two 
latter-named places. They 
realise about £400 per ton. 
In the nurseries, called 
Nopaleries, where these 
plants are grown in rows, 
and not allowed to attain 
4 ft. in height, these insects 
feed by the million, and 
are known to entomologists 
as the Coccus Cacti of 
Linnams. The female in¬ 
sects are placed on the 
plants annually about 
August, the operation being 
called sowing. They breed 
rapidly and grow fast, so 
that the cochineal harvest 
commences about the end 
of four months. The in. 
sects are brushed into a basket, and afterwards 
killed by immersion in boiling water, or exposure in 
heaps to the sun. When dry they are ready for ex¬ 
portation. They are then sent to the London and 
Paris markets to minister to the luxuries of civilised 
life. It takes about 70,000 insects to weigh a pound. 
O. monocantha and O. maxima were then described. 
The latter, on being accidentally injured, gradually 
bleeds to death. O. cylindrica has round instead of 
flat stems, and O. tunicata is ribbed, The Haworthias 
are small interesting plants, closely allied to the Aloes. 
The species of Echinopsis are globular spiny plants, and 
are believed to have saved the lives of many, both man 
and beast, from dying of thirst. A plant of E. formosa, 
