Cactus Culture For Amateurs

INTRODUCTION.

HE Cactus family is not popular among English horticulturists in these days, scarcely half a dozen species out of about a thousand known being considered good enough to be included among favourite garden plants. Probably five hundred kinds have been, or are, in cultivation in the gardens of the few specialists who take an interest in Cactuses; but these are practically unknown in English horticulture. It is not, however, very many years ago that there was something like a Cactus mania, when rich amateurs vied with each other in procuring and growing large collections of the rarest and newest kinds.

"About the year 1830, Cacti began to be specially patronised by several rich plant amateurs, of whom may be mentioned the Duke of Bedford, who formed a fine collection at Woburn Abbey, the Duke of Devonshire, and Mr. Harris, of Kingsbury. Mr. Palmer, of Shakelwell, had become possessed of Mr. Haworth's collection, to which he greatly added by purchases; he, however, found his rival in the Rev. H. Williams, of Hendon, who formed a fine and select collection, and, on account of the eagerness of growers to obtain the new and rare plants, high prices were given for them, ten, twelve, and even twenty and thirty guineas often being given for single plants of the Echinocactus. Thus private collectors were induced to forward from their native countries-chiefly from Mexico and Chili-extensive collections of Cacti." (quoting J. Smith. A.L.S., ex-Curator of the Royal Gardens. Kew).

This reads like what might be written of the position held now in England by the Orchid family, and what has been written of Tulips and other plants whose popularity has been great at some time or other. Why have Cactuses gone out of favour? It is impossible to give any satisfactory answer to this question. No doubt they belong to that class of objects which is only popular whilst it pleases the eye or tickles the fancy; and the eye and the fancy having tired of it, look to something different.

The general belief with respect to Cactuses is that they are all wanting in beauty, that they are remarkable only in that they are exceedingly curious in form, and as a rule very ugly. It is true that none of them possess any claims to gracefulness of habit or elegance of foliage, such as are usual in popular plants, and, when not in flower, very few of the Cactuses would answer to our present ideas of beauty with respect to the plants we cultivate. Nevertheless, the stems of many of them (see Frontispiece, Fig. 1) are peculiarly attractive on account of their strange, even fantastic, forms, their spiny clothing, the absence of leaves, except in very few cases, and their singular manner of growth. To the few who care for Cactuses there is a great deal of beauty, even in these characters, although perhaps the eye has to be educated up to it.

If the stems are more curious than beautiful, the flowers of the majority of the species of Cactuses are unsurpassed, as regards size and form, and brilliancy and variety in colour, by any other family of plants, not even excluding Orchids. In size some of the flowers equal those of the Queen of Water Lilies (Victoria regia), whilst the colours vary from the purest white to brilliant crimson and deep yellow. Some of them are also deliciously fragrant. Those kinds which expand their huge blossoms only at night are particularly interesting; and in the early days of Cactus culture the flowering of one of these was a great event in English gardens.

Of the many collections of Cactuses formed many years ago in England, that at Kew is the only one that still exists. This collection has always been rich in the number of species it contained; at the present time the number of kinds cultivated there is about 500. Mr. Peacock, of Hammersmith, also has a large collection of Cactuses, many of which he has at various times exhibited in public places, such as the Crystal Palace, and the large conservatory attached to the Royal Horticultural Society's Gardens at South Kensington. Other smaller collections are cultivated in the Botanic Gardens at Oxford, Cambridge, Glasnevin, and Edinburgh.

A great point in favour of the plants of the Cactus family for gardens of small size, and even for window gardening-a modest phase of plant culture which has made much progress in recent years-is the simpleness of their requirements under cultivation. No plants give so much pleasure in return for so small an amount of attention as do these. Their peculiarly tough-skinned succulent stems enable them to go for an extraordinary length of time without water; indeed, it may be said that the treatment most suitable for many of them during the greater portion of the year is such as would be fatal to most other plants. Cactuses are children of the dry barren plains and mountain sides, living where scarcely any other form of vegetation could find nourishment, and thriving with the scorching heat of the sun over their heads, and their roots buried in the dry, hungry soil, or rocks which afford them anchorage and food.

In beauty and variety of flowers, in the remarkable forms of their stems, in the simple nature of their requirements, and in the other points of special interest which characterise this family, and which supply the cultivator and student with an unfailing source of pleasure and instruction, the Cactus family is peculiarly rich.

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