Advice for collectors 55 

a few years ago these same plants were costly collectors’ items. Thanks 
to those who have specialized in distributing succulents most of the 
desirable kinds are now produced in quantity. 
In planning a collection, master the proper soil variations and the 
best watering methods. Get the habit of recording where and when 
you got each plant and how it responds to different treatments. 
Many a collector would give an arm to know where he got such 
and such a plant; you think you will remember but you will not. 
Don’t try to get plants too fast; many collectors have burdened 
themselves with so many plants that they can not give them the 
proper care or enjoy the hobby they have selected. 
After you have mastered growing and flowering of succulents and 
have obtained all of the commercial kinds from which you have made 
selections of the ones you want to keep, then you can start buying 
imports and collector's rarities. You can’t grow them all, so you 
should specialize after you have a small group assembled as a back- 
ground for general interest. 
A true collector can be judged by the condition of his plants and 
the system he uses to record them. The goal of any collector is to 
mature a plant so that it will flower. Keep your plants clean and 
orderly. 
If you would enjoy your hobby to the fullest extent subscribe to a 
cactus and succulent magazine so that you can hobnob with other 
growers. Then you will want to study about these plants so that 
you can talk intelligently about the different kinds (species) with 
their correct names—you will have outgrown the common names. 
Monographs which amount to 1200 pages have been written on a 
single group (genus) of the succulents, while Carnegie Institution 
of Washington spent a small fortune in compiling a monograph on 
cacti. Scientists, botanists, doctors, explorers, boys and girls, and just 
common people have all joined in the fascinating study of succu- 
lents until a world-wide unity has resulted with one language— 
that of the cactophile. 
