VOGUE OF THE CACTUS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 58, 6 September 1934, Page 9

VOGUE OF THE CACTUS

NATURE'S ODDITIES

Eor the lazy man, the man who has no time, and the man who likesa/garden that is different, Nature sept'the cactus, states the Melbourne "Argus." Its cultivation is so simple, and the effects that may be obtained with* a minimum of effort are so pleasing that the lazy man is deceived into growing it—deceived, because unless Tie is on his guard he will find himself ceasing to be lazy; he will be tempted to grow the more difficult species. That is the belief of Mrs. Austin Gatehouse, of Sandringham, who began growing cacti as a joke, and has ended by making a special voyage to California to increase her collection. ' Mrs. Gatehouse recently returned, bringing with her many rare specimens for a beautiful garden which ' already c6ntarns more cacti and succulent plants' thaa anything else. ■

To grow a cactus plant one places a piece of leaf or stem carefully, oiriop of a pot of soil and gravel, wafers ."it, and leaves it there, sheltered fVpia. frosts. Succulent plants similar to'iaetus—the euphorbias in almost endless variety, the aloes, the crassulas, and the mesembry-anthemums, scarcely less varied—are available to the enthUsiast, whose interest will not be limited to the 1500 odd species of the cactus family itself. Most of them grow •well in the open garden, where a selection may be planted to produce wealth of flowers in every month of the year..

There are many showy varieties. There are also the "jokes." One plant is lili<3 an elephant's foot; another is like a bishop's mitre. A third avoids the hungry animals in the desert, by assuming the appearance of a pebble, which, is obscured for a brief season by a single blazing flower.- A ferocious specimen has spines which the Indians used to employ.as fish-hooks; now they are used for-gramophone needles. The cacti have juices—one cures indigestion, a second is being tried as a. cure fop tuberculosis, and a third contains a drug so powerful that it produces tha narcosis of opium; Whether in a garden of acres or in a miniature garden iiran old entree dish the succulent plants give a greater variety of beauty sand oddity than any other group of plants.

• G. W. Price and Co., 91 Dixon Street, will sell carpets, furniture, and cash register and bacon cutters in the mart at 1.30 p.m. tomorrow. '