| 
JanuAry 1, 1903. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
/ > CACTI. * 
=StSotr 
THE GROWTH. OF CACTI IN 
GARDENS. 
By.L,, Ggazsener, Director of the Grand 
Ducal Court Gardens, Karlsruhe, Baden. 
[From “Die Gartenwelt,” October 4, 1902.] 
I allow that cacti have been grown in 
gardens, even in botanical gardens, in 
many and incorrect ways, all caiculated to 
injure the plants. In earlier times even 
greater mistakes were made. Asa matter 
of routine cacti were treated, and, indeed, 
still are in some places, as purely desert, 
wilderness plants, whose habitat is sterile, 
stony ground, where they are exposed to 
the full blaze of the sun. Acting on this 
belief they were grown in light sandy soil, 
with very little water. The more nearly 
their native conditions were copied the 
better pleased their growers were. Time 
has taught us otherwise. By growing 
exotic plants we have learnt that it is not a 
good plan to try to imitate the original 
environment in part only, while we cannot 
imitate all the conditions, e.g., air, light, 
and sun, heat, &c. 
We now grow plants successfully in 
shade whose home is in full sunshine, give 
good soil to those from poor ground, and 
water those from dry countries. This is 
the way in which orchids and tropical 
plants used commercially are grown with 
us, and now we treat cacti in the same way. 
I have worried myself a great deal about 
cacti, having planted them in the old way 
in sandy loam mixed with many kinds of 
small stones, keeping them dry both in the 
full blaze of the summer sun, and also in 
winter. The result was what you might 
expect—infinitesimal growth, withering 
rather than thriving, rough pale appear- 
ance, and very mean show of blossom. 
There are even now gardens where this 
plan is followed, with, of course, no good 
result, while in other gardens the opposite 
error is made; that is, sheltering plants 
both in summer and winter, so that they 
are enfeebled before spring comes. 
Cacti require fairly rich soil either when 
grown in pots or planted out. I use a 
nourishing compost, mixed with sand, to 
which I add some loam for Opuntias, Mam- 
millarias, Cereus, Echinopsis, and Echino- 
cactus, and some peat for Phyllocactus and 
Rhipsalis. In the beginning of May I 
plant out badly grown or weak plants in a 
frame with bottom heat produced by a two- 
foot layer of horse manure. While trans- 
planting I remove all old soil, thoroughly 
cleanse the roots, and take the opportu- 
nity of destroying any mealy bug with rec- 
tified spirit, to which a little extract. of 
bitter gourd is added. This routine does 
not hurt the plants, which I then place 
close to the glass ,keeping the “lights” al- 
ways at the same inclination. The air 
supply is diminished in the evening, and 
the frames are never shaded even in the 
heat of summer, when the temperature in- 
side may rise to 122 Fah. The Rhipsalis 
and Phyllocactus families only are shaded 
at midday. The plants must be freely 
watered and sprinkled, and it is a good 
plan once a week to give a weak manure 
water, to which Iadd water in which hoof 
parings have been steeped. 
Pot plants are treated in the same way, 
transplanted in April or May, and again 
in August, early in the month, so that they 
may make good roots. For tall plants I 
have a special frame, with glass on all sides. 
Pot plants must be started in heat, 1e., 
the frame must have bottom heat, the pots 
Pilocereus Schottii. 
(From “ Californian Floriculturist.”) 
at first standing on the ground, and then, 
as the latter cools, are sunk init. Well-fed 
plants will not suffer from cold then, being 
well warmed by the sun. I do not advise 
a second heating of the frame, not caring 
to grow cacti like lettuces. The situation 
in winter should be bright, and as dry as 
possible. 
The Phyllocacti and others from warm 
countries winter as well as those from col- 
der at a temperature of 48 to 54 Fah. In 
-winter I do not stop all watering, but only 
give a little, except in the case of the Sta- 
pelia family, which must be treated al- 
most as cacti, though now they must be 
kept quite dry. Any one who devotes 
himself to cactus blooms as masterpieces 
should keep his plants quite dry in Decem- 
ber, and then begin to water gradually. I 
_ am sure this advice is correct, and I am 
also sure that cacti at their best are in thé 
front rank of beautiful and healthy prickly 
plants. 
_Transtaror’s Note—This very sugges- 
tive paper on the feeding of cacti will iz: 
terest the growers of Cacti in Australia. 
In our country some blinding of the glass 
would be necessary on account of our great 
sun temperature during heat waves. The 
translator has grown many cacti on “the 
starvation principle,” and thinks that a few 
experiments in Herr Graebener’s treat- 
ment might lead to interesting results. 
R. 
POCSOSSSO 69 
Greenhouse Plants. 
THE ACHIMENES. 
With regard to the culture of Achi- 
menes, perhaps the fact of their losing 
popularity may be accounted for in conse- 
quence of their being looked upon as sub- 
jects only fit for a stove, hence it is that 
attempts at cultivating them have been 
abandoned ; but is it not also well known 
that, although they revel in the greater 
degree of heat of a stove, they can, like 
Gloxinias and Coleuses, be fairly well 
grown in a greenhouse during the summer 
months? 
They are best seen when grown sus- 
pended in baskets, and when in bloom are 
_ very attractive hung from a conservatory 
root, The tubers should be put in 
the baskets after starting’ them in the 
brisk heat of a striking pit and gradually 
inuring them to the temperature of the 
house, giving them the warmest position 
during the first few months that the house 
affords, and keeping them away from 
draughts and avoiding hanging the baskets 
too near to ventilators. 
They may also be grown in pots; but if 
it is intended that they shall occupy . 
baskets it is best to plant them in such 
receptacles at the outset, as often the re- 
moval retards their progress for a time. 
Sandy loam is what they like, and as they 
love moisture, special attention must be 
paid to drainage, especially when potting 
isreverted to. Give them a position near 
the glass if in pots, and encourage as much 
as possible, a humid atmosphere in the 
house. 
The ends of the shoots should be pinched 
out when about 6 in. in height and the 
laterals tied down to the sides of the 
baskets, thus presenting, when in bloom, a 
mass of color. At the close of the season 
the tubers should be put away in sand out 
of the reach of frost until the following 
spring. 
