The plants are grown from seed sown a quarter- to a half-inch deep in sandy soil mixed with a small amount of powdered charcoal and leaf mold in flats or pots, in part shade and given enough water to keep the soil moist but not wet. When a half-inch high or so the seedling plants should be planted in small pots. A south exposure is preferable for growing these species. They will thrive outside or indoors. Interlacing Spine Cactus (_Echinocactus intertextus_) (Named from the numerous interlacing or overlapping radial spines) How to identify and how it grows The Interlacing Spine Cactus looks very much like a flattened cylinder, growing from one and one-half to six inches high and to four inches in diameter. It has thirteen spiral ribs spaced about three-quarters of an inch apart, obtuse and sometimes rounded. The ridges of these are dull green and scurfy. The areolas are very short and crowded close together. There are from twenty to thirty radial spines, a half-inch long, which radiate much like the spokes of a wheel. All these spines are interlocking with one another and incurving. The four central spines do not appear till after the plant has begun to flower; usually three turn upward while the other one grows outward. They are a dull gray suffused with red or brown, or in some instances are brownish. The flowers form in a cluster at the top of the plant and are about an inch and a half long, having light purple sepals and from eighteen to twenty petals, the latter oblanceolate with a white center that changes to light pink or purple. The style of the flower is a pale yellow-green suffused with purple. The fruit is very small and is covered with scales which are colorless. These plants grow singly in coarse gravelly or sandy soils at altitudes of four or five thousand feet, and their blossoms come forth in May. How to grow Set out plants at any season, preferably in the spring, in sandy or gravelly clay loam in part shade and give some irrigation monthly to keep the soil moist. They may be grown from seed in sandy loam in flats with sufficient water to keep the soil moist. The flats should be in part shade. The plants grow indoors and out and are not injured by zero temperatures. In colder climates they can be grown in dry sunny conservatories or indoor rock gardens. Purple Spined Visnagita (_Echinocactus erectocentrus_—_Echinomastus erectocentrus_) (Named _erectocentrus_ from the erect central spines) How to identify and how it grows