Pot-pourri from a Surrey garden

My old books taught me to take an interest in Cactuses, which in the early part of the century were much grown. They are very easy of cultivation, and well worth growing for those who spend June and July in their gardens. A succession must be aimed at, as the drawback is that the blooms only last a short time. The old Cereus speciosissimus surpasses in beauty and splendour any garden plant I know, with its brilliant scarlet petals shot with the richest purple and its handsome white tassel of stamens. Another beautiful flower is the large white night-flowering Cereus ; and if brought, when just about to bloom, into the hall or sitting-room, its delicious perfume pervades the whole house for twenty-four hours, if not for longer. Although Cactuses are very easy to cultivate, yet what they require they must have, or they do not flower at all, and then gardeners throw them away. Wholesome neglect is better than too much misdirected care ; they 122 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN want to be kept very dry, and not too warm all through the winter, but quite free from frost. In April they are re-potted, if they seem to require it ; but that is seldom. Once started into growth, they want heat, light, sun, a little nourishment, and plenty of watering and syringing, with rain-water if possible ; hard chalky water is bad for them. When they have done flowering, I plant them out in a good warm border till the middle of August. This does them a lot of good, and helps them very much to make new growth ; they should be well syringed overhead while growing. Anyone really interested in Cactuses will learn all they want to know in a little book called ' Cactus Culture for Amateurs,' by W. Watson. The old and long- neglected taste for growing Cactuses is certainly reviving, and some of the finest kinds can be grown with very little trouble or expense. Mr. Watson is Assistant Curator of the Eoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where there is a large collection of Cactuses. He writes as one who knows, and the book is full of practical instructions. I have a great many Stapelias, South African plants rather resembling miniature Cactuses in their growth, and requiring the same treatment. They are very curious, and are described in a modern book translated from the German, called the ' Natural History of Plants,' as belong- ing to a group of plants called ' indoloid.' Sometimes the scent of these South African Stapelias resembles that of decomposing mammalian flesh, sometimes of rotten fish, &c. This, of course, attracts insects. Flowers provided with indoloid scents resemble animal corpses in their colouring, having usually livid spots, violet streaks, and red-brown veins on a greenish or a fawn-coloured background. All the same, the flowers are to me curious and rather beautiful, so entirely unlike anything else. JUNE 123 This month is the time to sort out the Freesia bulbs that have been drying in the sun, in their pots, laid on one side on the shelf of the greenhouse. The largest bulbs are re-potted now or in July in good strong loamy soil, but hardly watered at all till they begin to show through the earth. The next-sized bulbs are potted a month later. When the quite small ones are put into a box to grow on for next year they are too small to flower. Early potting- up of Freesias is very important if they are to flower early.