SLIPS. 5D 
a size or two larger, and the inner one filled with water (the hole at 
. the bottom being first stopped with clay or putty), and the cuttings 
placed in the outer one. All these expedients are more or less effica- 
cious; and the great object with all of them, is to excite and stimu- 
late the plant. 
Slips—When cuttings are made of the shoots from the root or 
collar of the plant, or of little branches stripped off with a small por- 
tion of the root or stem attached, they are called slips; and they require 
no other preparation than cutting off the portion of bark smooth and 
close to the shoot. Slips are generally taken off in March, but 
they will also succeed if made in autumn. Cuttings of succulent 
plants, such as of the different kinds of cacti, require to be dried for 
some time after they are made, by placing them on a shelf in the sun. 
This is done to prevent the wounded part 
from becoming rotten in the ground, as the 
sap is very abundant, and in a very liquid 
state. 
Pipings axe cuttings of pinks and carna- 
tions, and indeed are applicable to all plants 
having jointed tubular stems. They are pre- 
pared by taking a shoot that has nearly done 
growing, and holding the root end of it in one 
hand, below a pair of leaves, and with the 
other pulling the top part above the pair of 
leaves, so as to separate it from the root-part 
of the stem at the socket formed by the axils 
of the leaves, leaving the part of the stem 
pulled off with a tubular or pipe-like termina- 
tion. Hence the name of pipings; and when 
thus separated, they are inserted in finely 
sifted earth or sand, and a hand-giass is 
fixed firmly over them. Most florists cut off 
the tips of the leaves of pipings, but others 
plant them entire; and the pipings grow ap- 
Pipings of a Cation. parently equally well under both modes of 
treatment. 
The principal points to be attended to in making cuttings are, to 
eut off the shoot at a joint, without bruising the stem; to make the 
