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The growing and resting seasons for Echinopsis are the same as for Echinocactus, and we may therefore refer to what is said under that genus for general hints with regard to the cultivation of Echinopsis in this country.
Grafting is also adopted for some of the Cactuses to add to the grotesqueness of their appearance; a spherical Echinocactus or Mamillaria being united to the columnar stem of another kind, so as to produce the appearance of a drum stick; or a large round-growing species grafted on to three such stems, which may then be likened to a globe supported upon three columns.
The distribution of Echinopsis is similar to that of Echinocactus, species being found in Chili, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, &c. They grow only in situations where the soil is sandy or gravelly, or on the sides of hills in the crevices of rocks. Cultivation.
It has been called Melocactus latispinus and Echinocactus latispinus. The stem of this is about as large as a Keswick Codlin apple, with the broad end uppermost, and the sides cut up into about a dozen and a half rather prominent sharp ridges, with bunches of stout yellow spines arranged, at intervals of about 1 in., along the edges.
The seemingly dry sticks are thrust into yet drier ground where they take root and grow without water. Its bark is resinous and a fagot of dry sticks makes a torch that is equal to a pineknot. The echinocactus, or bisnaga, is also called "The Well of the Desert." It has a large barrel-shaped body which is covered with long spikes that are curved like fishhooks.
In a cottage window this operation may be successfully performed if a box with a movable glass top, or a large bell glass, be used to keep the grafts close till they have taken. For the spherical-stemmed kinds of Mamillaria, Cereus, Echinocactus, &c., a different method is found to answer.
In Echinocactus, too, the spines about the base of old plants are much fewer, if not entirely cast off, than on the upper part. In Pereskia the contrary is the case. Taking P. aculeata as an example, this is best known in gardens as having branches about as thick as a goose-quill, with ovate leaves, at the base of which there is a pair of curved spines, ¼ in. long, and shaped like cats' claws.
Except for large houses, this species is not recommended for general cultivation, as it blossoms only after attaining a good size, and the stems, when old, are not at all ornamental. Many of the plants included in the genus Echinocactus are very similar in habit and stem-characters to the Cereus. A comparison of the figures given in these pages will show that such is the case.
We know of no plant in English collections, except that at Kew, which was introduced from Mexico in 1886. It flowers in September and October. A French writer on Cactuses, M. Labouret, calls this a species of Echinocactus, but it resembles so closely another species included by him in Mamillaria, viz., M. atrata, that we see no good reason for separating the two into different genera.
The same may be said of green-fly, which sometimes attacks the Epiphyllums. A blight, something similar to mealy bug, now and again appears on the roots of some of the varieties of Echinocactus and Cereus.
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