16 



RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS. 



under the influence of a high temperature, are 

 struck in propagating houses bxiilt on purpose, 

 in which an equal temperature is maintained 

 day and night. This indispensable condition, 

 which has always been an object of great 

 care among gardeners, has now become much 

 more easy to fulfil, in consequence of the use 

 of hot-water pipes. The flooring of the frame 

 under which the hot-water pipes pass, is 

 covered to the depth of 4 or 6 inches with 

 sand or tan ; the pots for cuttings, which are 

 plunged in it, are subjected to a heat of from 

 30° to 35° Cent. (87° to 98° Fahr.) for cut- 

 tings of such plants as, from the difiiculty of 

 striking them, require a high temperature, as 

 for example Xanthochymus, Myristica, Guaya- 

 cum, Diospyros, Mangifera, &c. Annexed is 

 the section of a glass-house for propagation, 

 such as I should recommend for strildng cut- 

 tings in. Two pits, AA, are placed on each 

 side of the principal walk B ; CC are two 

 walks all round, for the use of the gardeners. 

 The flooring of the pits ought to be covered 

 with sand or tan 4 or 6 inches thick, before 

 receiving the cutting pots. Hot-water pipes 

 pass under these floors and heat the material 

 in which the pots are placed, as well as the 

 pots themselves, and then discharge their heat 

 into the air of the house by means of trap- 

 doors placed on hinges, and opening on each 

 side of the pits ; by which we may regulate 

 the surrounding temperature of the house. 

 The dimensions of such a house would vary 

 according to circumstances ; we must only 

 bear in mind that the cuttings ought to be as 

 near the glass of the house as possible. The 

 plan of this house, as here figured, represents 

 an interior 4 yards wide, of which l^- yard is 

 employed for the walks ; but if the house to 

 be constructed is to be narrower — 3 yards 

 wide, for example — a single walk in the mid- 

 dle might be managed. In a well-constructed 

 propagating house we may strike cuttings all 

 the year round. 



No. VI. Pots for Cuttings. — The pots 

 which we choose for cuttings are about 3.| 

 inches wide at the top ; we prefer pots with 

 small bottoms, so that when we turn them up 

 to ascertain if the cutting has rooted, there is 

 nothing to stop the ball from coming out. I 

 submitted to the Horticultural Society of 

 Paris, some time ago, a model of a cutting- 

 pot which has since been common. I am 

 )^lad to have made it known, because it has 



contributed to the 

 success of this part 

 of horticultural sci- 

 ence, which is now 

 so generally appre- 

 ciated. Fig 2, A, 

 is an earthen pot, 

 2 J — 32 in. broad, 

 and 21 — 2^ in. high 



Fig. 'i.— Pots for Cuttings. 



_ , in the bottom there is 

 a hole as in a common pot ; this opening must 

 not be obstructed by a crock, as is the cus- 

 tom, but we invert inside a little pot, whose 

 bottom ought to be level with the earth in 

 the pot, as in the cut. This little pet is to 

 receive the heat. The hot effluvium of the 

 tan, or the heat developed by the hot-water 

 pipes, enters the hole of the earthen pot, 

 lodges in the pot which is inverted, and keeps 

 the cuttings, which are planted circularly 

 around it, in the condition most favorable to 

 their vegetation ; this arrangement presents 

 also a real advantage, viz., that the roots of 

 cuttings do not force themselves one on the 

 other, as in the old methods ; they may easily 

 be separated afterwards. 



No. VII. Bell-glasses for Cuttings. 

 — The green bell-glasses called Melon bell- 

 glasses are generally used for propagation- 



IU!\J^\JI\jf 



Fig. 3.— A Melon Bel'-slass. 



but recent and repeated trials, and frequent 

 observation, have given the preference to the 

 use of blue and violet coloured glasses, as 

 being more favorable for the striking of cut- 

 tings. I give here the forms of the glasses 

 used in the green-houses of the INIuseum of 

 Natural History. Fig. 3 is a Melon bell- 

 glass ; it is useful, inasmuch as it serves to 

 cover a good many little pots, and also for 

 Rose-cuttings. Latterly other bell-glasses 

 called angular {a facettes) have been in use, 

 constructed in the same manner as hand- 

 glasses ; they are made of three difl"erent sizes, 



