12 



HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 



Euphorbia pukherrima or, as it is commonly called, Poinsettia 

 pulcherrima is a plant frequently met with in the East. Its beauty 

 does not so much reside in the flowers as in the bracts with which 

 they are surrounded. It may be successfully grown in tubs or large 

 pots, and small plants are admirably adapted for table decoration. 



Owing to the amount of latex which exudes when a shoot is cut, 

 the propagation of this plant is attended with considerable difficulty. 

 It is practically useless to attempt to strike newly made cuttings, as 

 the greater percentage will shrivel and die. Cuttings of Poinsettia, 

 and this applies to many other lacticiferous plants, require to be 

 slightly dried before they are inserted. Remove the shoots which 

 can be spared from a plant and allow them to lie for about a fort- 

 night in a shady, dry situation. The soft, sappy, useless shoots will 

 immediately shrivel but the firmer wood at the base of the shoots 

 remains sound. At the end of about a fortnight cuttings can be 

 made and inserted in pots. 



The size of the cuttings should be about four inches and it is 

 essential that the base of the cutting be cut slightly below a node or 

 bud, i.e., where the stem is solid. The internodes or other parts of 

 the stem are hollow and the shoot has generally to rot away until a 

 solid piece of stem is reached. As may readily be imagined it is a 

 matter of considerable difficulty to arrest the growth of this rot. 



Insert the cuttings in six inch pots using a sandy compost. 

 Cuttings root much more readily when placed round the side of a pot 

 so that only four or five should be inserted round the side of the 

 above mentioned size of pot. Until the cuttings are rooted, the soil 

 requires to be kept slightly drier than is usually the case with other 

 plants. Pot off singly into small pots and iirovide the same treat- 

 ment afforded other plants of a like nature. 



J, W. A. 



