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The Fruit is rotten, when ripe, and commonly contains four flat Kernels, call'd Stones, which is the Seed. 'Tis said, the Cortex Peruvianus comes from a Persimmon-Tree, that grows in New-Spain. I have try'd the Drying of this Bark, to imitate it, which it does tolerably well, and agrees therewith. It is binding enough to work the same Effect.
All the larger-stemmed kinds may be kept in health when grown on their own roots; but for some of the smaller species it is a good plan to graft them upon the stem of some of the Cereuses, C. tortuosus or C. colubrinus being recommended for the smaller kinds, and for the larger C. peruvianus, C. gemmatus, or any one the stem of which is robust, and of the right dimensions to bear the species of Echinocactus intended to be grafted.
F. T. Palmer, in "Culture des Cactées", recommending the following treatment for M. communis: Take a Cereus peruvianus of about the same diameter as that of the base of the Melocactus, cut off the head of the former, but not so low as to come upon the hard, ligneous axis, and then pare off the hard epidermis and ribs for about 1 in.
Such plants are: C. candicans, which is a cluster-stemmed kind, very thick and fleshy, and in shape like an Indian club; C. chilensis; with tall hedgehog-skinned stems, the numerous ridges being thickly clothed with clusters of yellowish spines, which become dark brown with age; C. Dyckii, 10 ft. high, the stems thick and fleshy, with ridges 1½ in. deep; C. gemmatus, a hexagonal, almost naked-stemmed species 10 ft. high; C. strictus, C. peruvianus, C. geometrizans, and C. Jamacaru, which are tall, weird-looking plants, 10 ft. or more high, some of them freely branched.
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