Mr. Bassett, Hammonton, N. J., asks: " Is there any cactus with brilliant red flowers, sufficiently hardy to stand our winters?"

" Opuntia Rafinesqui blooms freely here in any sandy waste, and I would like to find some red variety to grow along with it. Would it be possible to produce a hybrid between O. Rafinesqui and some of the red ones ?"

[Echinocactus phoeniceus, a deep crimson, is probably hardy in New Jersey, and E. Simpsoni with Mamillaria vivipara, both from the Rocky Mountains, and quite hardy, are "red" ones also. There is a variety of O. Rafinesqui, named by Dr. Engelman, O. Rafinesqui oplocarpa, with flowers of light straw, but shading to orange red at the base, from which a very dark Opuntia Rafinesqui might perhaps be obtained by selection, and perhaps by hybridization as suggested by our correspondent. - Ed. G. M].