SEPTEMBER. 209 



public, it is perhaps better that such should be passed over in silence. 

 I, however, distinctly remember existing as a short branch, ter- 

 minated by a flower-bud, in company with other branches, on what 

 is termed the parent tree ; and although deriving sustenance from the 

 same root and through the same stem, I had a certain sense of my 

 own independence — of my capability of becoming a separate individual, 

 and being in after-times the main stem whence should arise branches 

 like myself. As 1 heard one and another bestow a passing word 

 of praise on the freshness, beauty, or fragrance of my flower, but 

 reserve the comble de gloire for the plant on which I grew, I longed 

 for the time when my master, who was a nurseryman, should see fit 

 to detach me from my parent, and place me in the state of a cutting, 

 to begin life entirely on my own account. 



Accordingly one morning, just as my flower had dropt, I heard 

 with joy, as he gently pressed me between his finger and thumb, 

 that I was "ripe enough," to use his own words, and that on the 

 morrow I was to become a cutting. As the preparation for the 

 coming event was made beneath my own eyes, I shall relate as briefly 

 as possible the bare facts, not troubling the reader with my hopes, 

 fears, and aspirations, as they may be more easily imagined than 

 described. First of all was brought into the house about a peck of 

 pure yellow loam, chopped fine, but not sifted ; it appeared to have 

 been the top-spit of an old pasture, cut and laid up to dry and air 

 some months previously ; the next material was about half a peck of 

 decayed leaves, technically called leaf-mould, and next about a quarter 

 of a peck of white sand. These materials were laid on a flat board and 

 thoroughly mixed together, by turning them frequently with a small 

 spade, and then pronounced ready for use. I now saw a quantity of 

 pots brought in, of the size called large sixties, and a boy followed 

 with some broken pots under his arm, some brickbats, and a hammer. 

 He began breaking the pots into pieces nearly the size of the bottom 

 of the pot, and put one piece the concave side downwards over the 

 hole of each pot; he then broke the bricks into pieces about the size 

 of a nut, put a handful over each piece of crock, and filled the pots 

 with the soil previously prepared, pressing it down rather firmly, and 

 striking it off level with the top of the pot with his hand. I now 

 made a pretty shrewd guess that into one of these pots I was to go ; 

 and with an exulting heart (ah! I little knew then what I had to go 

 through before attaining that separate and independent existence I 

 so much longed for,) I saw my master approach with a little white- 

 handled knife in his hand, and before I scarcely knew it, I was se- 

 vered from the stem. After the debris of my flower was cut off, there 

 remained two leaves ; the upper one was left intact, and the lower 

 removed ; the stem was then cut straight, just below where the 

 bottom leaf joined it, and I was a cutting " made." The accompa- 

 nying woodcut represents, as nearly as I can remember, my appear- 

 ance at this early epoch of my career. 



I was now inserted, in company with three others, in one of the 

 pots previously described. A hole was made at the side of the pot 

 with a dibble, about the size of an ordinary cedar pencil, and the 



NEW SERIES, VOL. III. NO. XXXIII. T 



