William Watson

“ It has been stated that plants do not grow naturally in the soil best suited for them, and that the reason why many plants are found in peculiar places is not at all because they prefer them, but because they alone are capable of existing there, or because they take refuge there from the inroads of stouter neighbours who would destroy them or crowd them out. There are, as every gardener knows, numerous plants that succeed equally well in widely different soils, and a soil which may be suitable for a plant in one place, may prove totally unsuited in another. ”

“ As the sun in England is not nearly so powerful as in the hot plains of Central America and the Southern States of North America, where Cactuses are found in greatest abundance, it will be evident that, if flowers are to be produced, we must see that our plants have a sufficiency of water in early summer, and little or none during the autumn and winter, whilst the whole year round they should be exposed to all the sunlight possible, the temperature, of course, varying with the requirements of the species, whether it is a native of tropical or of temperate regions. ”

“ Then mayst thou conceive the curious beauty of this little herb—a plant so unlike all others that we would fain believe it the reanimated spirit of a race that flourished in former ages, with those hideous monsters whose bones alone remain to tell the history of their existence. ”

“ Turning now to a consideration of those kinds known as garden plants, we find that comparatively few of the species known to botanists are represented in English collections, though, perhaps, we may safely say that not one of the kinds known would be considered unworthy of cultivation except by those who despise Cactuses of whatever kind. Their flowers are conspicuous both in size and brilliancy of colour; and in the curious, grotesque, and even beautifully symmetrical shapes of their stems, one finds attractions of no ordinary kind. ”

“ Under cultivation, this Brazilian species forms a small, straggling shrub, about 3 ft. high, but in its native woods its stems are many feet long, and pendulous from the branches of trees. It may be grown in a warm house, in a pot, and its branches supported by a stake; or its lower stems may be fastened against a piece of soft fern-stem, into which its numerous stem-roots penetrate freely. In the winter it should be kept almost dry. The flowers remain fresh for several days, and are fragrant. A well-grown plant, when in flower, is an interesting and pretty object. ”

“ During winter very little water is needed, just sufficient to prevent shrivelling being safest. Excess of moisture in winter is ruinous, as it often kills the roots, and sometimes causes the plant to rot off at the collar. The lowest temperature in winter should be 50 degs., lower than this being unsafe, whilst in mild weather it might be 5 degs. higher.
It is a bad plan to turn these plants round, in order, as some think, to ripen the growths properly. As a matter of fact, it does no good, but often does harm, by suddenly exposing the tender parts to the full force of sunlight. ”

“ The conditions under which they grow naturally vary considerably in regard to temperature and soil; but they are all found in greatest numbers and most robust health where the soil is gravelly or sandy, and even where there is no proper soil at all, the roots finding nourishment in the clefts or crevices of the rocks. As a rule, the temperature in the lands where they are native is very high during summer, and falls to the other extreme in winter, some of the species being found even where frost and snow are frequent; the majority of them, however, require what we would call stove treatment. ”

“ In the West Indies most of the night-flowering kinds are common, their long, creeping stems clinging by means of aerial roots to rocks, or to the exposed trunks of trees, where their enormous, often fragrant, flowers are produced in great abundance, expanding only after the sun has set. Between these three distinct groups we find among the plants of this elegant genus great variety both in size and form of the stem and in the flower characters of the different species. ”

“ In Cactuses we have a family of plants for which special conditions are necessary; and, as regards soil, whether we are guided by nature or by gardening experience, we are led to conclude that almost all of them thrive only when planted in one kind, that soil being principally loam. Plants which are limited in nature to sandy, sun-scorched plains or the glaring sides of rocky hills and mountains, where scarcely any other form of vegetation can exist, are not likely to require much decayed vegetable humus, but must obtain their food from inorganic substances, such as loam, sand, or lime. ”

“ Although the places in which Cactuses naturally abound are, for the greater portion of the year, very dry and warm, heavy rains are more or less frequent during certain periods, and these, often accompanied by extreme warmth and bright sunshine, have an invigorating and almost forcing effect on the growth of Cactuses. It is during this rainy period that the whole of the growth is made, and new life is, as it were, given to the plant, its reservoir-like structure enabling it to store up a large amount of food and moisture, so that on the return of dry weather the safety of the plant is insured. ”

“ Grafted plants, especially Epiphyllums, when worked on to Pereskia stocks, are apt to grow weak and flabby through the stem wearing out, or through the presence of mealy bug or insects in the crevices of the part where the stock and scion join, in which case it is best to prepare fresh stocks of Pereskia, and graft on to them the best of the pieces of Epiphyllum from the old, debilitated plant. It is no use trying to get such plants to recover, as, when once this disease or weakness begins, it cannot easily be stopped. ”

“ A common complaint in relation to Cacti as flowering plants is that they grow all right but rarely or never flower. The explanation of this is shown by the fact that the plants must be properly ripened and rested before they can produce flowers. On the approach of cold weather the plants which were removed to a frame to be ripened should be brought back into the house for the winter, and kept quite dry at the roots till the return of spring, when their flowers will be developed either before or soon after the watering season again commences. ”

“ It thrives in a house where the winter temperature does not fall below 45 deg., requiring no water at that time, but a liberal supply in the summer when growth is being made, and all the sunlight possible. When without its star-shaped, handsome flowers, the stem is remarkably ferocious-looking, the spines upon it being quite as thick and as strong as on a hedgehog. ”

“ It is true that the majority of Cactuses may be kept alive in one house where all would be subjected to the same temperature, but many of the plants would merely exist, and could not possibly flower. It would be easy to point to several instances of this unsatisfactory state of things. At Kew, for example, owing to the arrangements necessary for the public, it is found convenient to have the majority of the large collection of Cactuses in one house, where the plants present an imposing appearance, but where, as might be expected, a good number of the species very rarely produce flowers. ”

“ Apart altogether from size, it is, however, possible to grow a collection of Cactuses, and to grow them well, in a house of small dimensions—given the amount of sunlight and heat which are required by these plants. We sometimes see Cactuses—specimens, too, of choice and rare kinds—which have been reared in a cottager's window or in a small greenhouse, and which in health and beauty have at least equalled what has been accomplished in the most elaborately prepared houses. ”

“ Some of the kinds have their floral organs so arranged as to be capable of self-fertilisation; still, it is always as well to give them some assistance. The night-flowering species must, of course, be fertilised either at night or very early in the morning. By using the pollen from one kind for dusting on to the stigma of another, hybrids may be obtained, and it is owing to the readiness with which the plants of this family cross with each other, that so many hybrids and forms of the genera Epiphyllum and Phyllocactus have been raised. ”

“ On the arrival of the potting season, which for these plants is in April and May, established plants should be examined at the root, and if the roots are found to be in a healthy condition, and the soil sweet, they should be replaced in the same pots to continue in them another year. If the roots are decayed, or the soil has become sour, it should be shaken away from the roots, which must be examined, cutting away all decayed portions, and shortening the longest roots to within a few inches of the base of the plant. ”

“ When well grown and flowered it surpasses in brilliancy of colours almost every other plant known. Specimens with thirty stems each 6 ft. high, and bearing from sixty to eighty buds and flowers upon them at one time, may be grown by anyone possessing a warm greenhouse. The stems are three to five angled, spiny, the tufts of spines set in little disks of whitish wool. The flowers are as large as tea saucers, with tubes about 4 in. long, the colour being an intense crimson or violet, so intense and bright as to dazzle the eyes when looked at in bright sunlight. ”

“ When pot-bound, the plants flower most freely, and it is not necessary to repot large specimens more often than about once every three years. When potted they should be placed in a sunny position in a close house or frame, and be kept freely watered. In bright weather they may be syringed overhead twice a day. For the first few days after repotting it is advisable to shade the plants from bright sunshine. A stove temperature is required until growth is finished. After this they should be gradually ripened by admitting more air and exposing to all the sunlight possible. ”

“ It is important that the cultivator should understand that if water is liberally supplied all through the summer, the plants cannot obtain the rest which is necessary to their ripening and producing flowers, as dryness at the root alone is not sufficient to provide this, but must be accompanied by exposure to bright sunlight, which is not possible in England during winter, so that the ripening process must begin before the summer is over. ”

“ It is, however, necessary to guard against the soil becoming saturated, for the soft fibrous roots suffer if they continue in a wet state for any length of time."
None of the species require to be grafted to grow freely and remain healthy, as the stems are all robust enough and of sufficient size to take care of themselves. The only danger is in keeping the plants too moist in winter, for although a little water now and again keeps the stems fresh and green, it deprives them of that rest which is essential to the development of their large, beautiful flowers in summer. ”

“ One of the commonest of Cactuses in the latter country is the Rat's-tail Cactus (Cereus flagelliformis) , and it is no unusual thing to see a large window of a cottager's dwelling thickly draped on the inside with the long, tail-like growths and handsome rose-coloured flowers of this plant. This is only one among dozens of species, all equally useful for window gardening, and all as interesting and beautiful as those above described. ”

“ Native of North-east Mexico, where it grows on stony hillsides in full exposure to sunshine, and where, during winter, it has to endure weather verging on to frost. It thrives in a greenhouse under cultivation. Like several of the stout-spined, robust-stemmed kinds, this may find favour as a garden plant because of the character of its stem, and the extraordinary strength of its large iron-like spines. ”

“ In California, in Mexico and Texas, in the provinces of Central and South America, as far south as Chili, and in many of the islands contiguous to the mainland, the Cactus family has become established wherever warmth and drought, such as its members delight in, allowed them to get established. In many of the coast lands, they occur in very large numbers, forming forests of strange aspect, and giving to the landscape a weird, picturesque appearance. ”

“ It is possible to preserve most Cactuses alive by keeping them constantly growing; but, with very few exceptions, such treatment prevents the plants from flowering. The following is what is practised in the gardens where Cactuses are successfully cultivated. For the genera Cereus, Echinopsis, Echinocactus, Mamillaria, Opuntia, and Melocactus, a moist tropical house is provided, and in April the plants are freely watered at the root, and syringed overhead both morning and afternoon on all bright days. ”

“ Large cuttings striking root so freely, it must follow that small cuttings will likewise soon form roots, and, so far as our experience—which consists of some years with a very large collection of Cactuses—goes, there is not one species in cultivation which may not be easily multiplied by means of cuttings. The nature of a Cactus stem is so very different from the stems of most other plants, that no comparison can be made between them in respect of their root-developing power ”

“ As the species and genera unite freely with each other, it is possible to produce, by means of grafting, some very extraordinary-looking plants, and to a lover of the incongruous and "queer," these plants will afford much interest and amusement. Besides the above, we graft Epiphyllums, and the long drooping Cereuses, such as C. flagelliformis, because of their pendent habit, and which, therefore, are seen to better advantage when growing from the tall erect stem of some stouter kind, than if allowed to grow on their own roots. ”