1879] LIBONIA FLORIBUNDA. 263 



make nice plants for furnishing next spring, and will with ordinary 

 care develop into fine bushes the following season. 



In preparing for inserting the cuttings, the pots should be washed 

 clean, and drained by the ordinary process, and then filled with a 

 mixture of well-decomposed leaf-mould mixed with sharp sand — 

 say in the proportion of one-third of the latter to two-thirds of the 

 former. It will also be advisable to leave space to the depth of an 

 inch on the surface of the pots for a layer of pure sharp sand, which 

 should be pressed down with the fingers and made firm, and into 

 which the cuttings should be inserted. The cuttings should be 

 selected from a clean healthy stock ; and of course it is understood 

 that in all cases of propagating, the materials employed should be of 

 the same temperature as that from which the cuttings are taken, 

 and be in good working condition, — that is, to be neither too wet 

 nor too dry. After the cuttings are inserted, the pots should be 

 plunged in a pit or propagating-frame with a bottom-heat of 85°. 

 There is no objection to propagating such plants in a frame with the 

 ordinary bedding plants, such as Verbenas, &c. ; but if a moderate 

 bottom-heat is at command in a pit heated by hot-water pipes, 

 the latter should be preferred, as being more conducive to a steady 

 growth than the conditions of the former, as heat fluctuates so rapidly 

 in an ordinary dung-frame when exposed to the external conditions of 

 an ever-varying atmosphere ; but, as before remarked, much depends 

 up m circumstances, such as season of propagating, locality, situation, 

 &c. &c. Assuming, however, that the cuttings have been plunged 

 in a bottom -heat such as that recommended, they will soon form 

 roots if the necessary conditions are observed in the way of shading, 

 syringing, and watering. 



After the young plants are sufficiently rooted they ought to be 

 shaken in the plunging material, leaving a vacuum between the pot 

 and the material in which it is plunged, preparatory to placing the 

 cutting-pot upon the surface of the bed, to prevent anything like an 

 abrupt check to growth. The same conditions of atmospheric treat- 

 ment will still require to be maintained, except that the shading 

 may be dispensed with after the cuttings have furnished themselves 

 with roots, until the plants are ready for potting, which will be as 

 soon as they are fit to be handled, and are large enough to be shifted 

 into 3-inch pots. Before they are shifted, the soil for potting should 

 be got in readiness, by having it mixed and laid up in a heated shed, 

 or at all events in some dry place where it can be taken from and 

 warmed to the necessary temperature a few hours before it is re- 

 quired for potting. The soil should be mainly friable loam, with a 

 dash of leaf-mould and sand mixed with it. Eich soils and over- 



