NOTWITHSTANDING the interesting forms and magnificent flowers of the cacti, these plants are often unappreciated by those who should grow them. They are no favorites with the "regular gardener," who says that they are " stubborn, flower when they like, and are not fitted for exhibition." This is because he knows little of their culture. They will not respond to his unnatural forcing like roses and pelargoniums, but a little attention to their few real wants meets a grateful response.

Cactuses need dryness and a temperature a few degrees above freezing during their rest, and the hottest sunshine and plenty of water when flowering. No plant is more easily grown than the cactus, when its habits and cultivation are once understood. It is as peculiar a growth as can be found. The foliage has become dwarfed and stunted, or in most cases it has disappeared. The whole organism, accustomed at times to long drought, takes in water greedily at its rootlets after every rain, and stores it away for future use in its thick, sponge-like and watertight tissues. The surface of the stems is covered with a thick, shiny skin which prevents undue evaporation, a sort of vegetable macintosh or "gossamer" coat, which retards transpiration. There are rarely any fiat leaves to wither and die in the scorching air, but the thick and jointed stems do their work, absorb carbon from the air and save up water for the dry season.

These stems vary greatly in shape and size ; some are small and pretty, with miniature flowers, beautiful in form and coloring ; some, thick and jointed, spread over the ground in all directions; others send straight, polygonal shafts over fifty feet in the air. Some of them are shaped like great melons set on end; others are perfect hemispheres in outline, curiously ribbed and furrowed. Square and triangular stems are not uncommon and some of the trailing kinds are even graceful, whether in hanging baskets or climbing over their native hills. All forms of the cactus are tenacious of life to a wonderful degree.

Their brilliant flowers are fertilized by night moths or by butterflies, for many of them give the first freshness of their bloom to the stillness of the tropic night. Much of the fruit is edible, and is commonly used where abundant. An English author says that they are desirable plants to grow in conservatories attached to dwellings, because the flowers give off no odor; but he had probably never inhaled the fragrance from a night-blooming cereus. However, the most highly scented ones are not in any way offensive to the olfactories.

A climbing cereus will, in time, fill a glass house like a Marechal Niel rose bush, if allowed to grow; and a dome of good height is wanted to shelter a Cereus gigan-teus, but smaller specimens are easily managed and bloom freely. It is not well to cut and trim them, for on the old and discolored growths come the most abundant flowers, as all successful growers know. The gardener fond of "cutting back" will get but poor satisfaction from them if he wants flowers. Some of them are good for hedges in their native lands, but hedge treatment will not be good for them in our artificial surroundings. Those that attain a fairly good size, like the most common forms of red or pink cereus and opuntias, are more easily grown if placed in pots about fifteen inches in diameter. The process of getting these well filled may be accelerated, in the case of a cereus, by putting in a number of small plants instead of one.

In winter keep them out of sunshine, but where it is light, cool and dry. Dampness when they should be at rest is their great enemy, and causes them to decay. When they show signs of freshness and growth, remove them to the hottest sunshine. Should the season be sufficiently advanced, they can be put in the open air at once, and when the flowers come they will be all the finer for it; bat if growth is already well advanced, the sudden change may kill the buds. Give plenty of water now, without fear of injury, if the earth they are in is well drained. They require but little earth, and like a good proportion of sand. Broken shells, bones or substances containing lime mixed with the soil seem to be relished by some. A little fertilizing is beneficial.

The great Linnaeus knew only a few species of cactus but botanists now tell us that the number of known genera is over a dozen, with over eight hundred species, and others being continually discovered. M. de Loup.