ut away, and the wound exposed to a dry air.
The cause of this decay at the base or in the side of the stems of
Cactuses is no doubt debility, which is the result of the absence of
some necessary condition when the plants are cultivated in houses or
windows in this country.

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.

CHAPTER IV.

PROPAGATION.

Cactuses may be multiplied from cuttings of the stems, from seeds, and
also by means of grafting; this last method being adopted for those
species which, under cultivation, are not easily kept in health when
growing upon their own roots, or, as in the case of Epiphyllums, when it
offers a means of speedily forming large and shapely specimens. From
seeds the plants are generally freer in growth than when cuttings are
used, although the seedlings are longer in growing into flowering
specimens than large cuttings would be. To the amateur, the process of
germination and development from the seedling to the mature stage, is
full of interest and attraction, the changes from one form to another as
the plant develops being very marked in most of the genera.

Seeds.--Good fresh seeds of Cactaceous plants germinate in from two to
four weeks after sowing, if placed in a warm house or on a hotbed with a
temperature of 80 degs. If sown in a lower temperature, the time they
take to vegetate is longer; but, unless in a very low degree of heat,
the seeds, if good, and if properly managed as regards soil and water,
rarely fail to germinate. For all the kinds, pots or pans containing
drainage to within 2 in. of the top, and then filled up with finely
sifted loam and sand, three parts of the former to one of the latter,
and pressed down moderately firm, will be found to answer. If the soil
be moist at the time of sowing the seeds, it will not be necessary to
water it for a day or two. The seeds should be scattered thinly over the
surface of the soil, and then covered with about 1/8 in. of soil. Over
this, a pane