a 
CUTTINGS. 
cuttings of this kind require to be 
covered with a hand-glass, and 
some with a bell-glass. 
Heath-like plants, such as Erica, 
Epacris, Diosma, are among the 
most difficult to propagate by cut- 
tings. The points of the shoots 
only are to be taken: and these, in 
some cases, should be not more 
than one inch in length. ‘These 
should be taken off early in spring, 
when the plants have nearly ceased 
growing; and they should be cut 
clean across at a joint, and the 
leaves clipt, or cut off, for about 
half-an-inch of their length. The 
Fig. 11.—Cutting of a Heath. 
cuttings, thus prepared, are planted 
in pure white sand, well drained, 
with a little peat soil as a substra- 
tum; and they are covered with a 
bell-glass, and placed in a frame 
near the glass, and shaded. The 
best time for putting in Heath cut- 
tings is in December; when plants, 
that have about half finished their 
growth, should be selected. ‘The 
cuttings ought not to be more than 
one inch long; and even shorter 
cuttings sometimes strike better. 
The leaves must then be clipped 
off with a small and very sharp- 
pointed pair of scissors, to about | 
half the length of the cutting, or 
CUTTINGS. 
and thus damp it off. This, after 
all, is perhaps one of the principal 
reasons why so few, even of gard- 
eners, strike Heath cuttings well ; 
for the cuttings being very small 
and succulent, the operators are 
seldom sufficiently careful in clip- 
ping off the leaves with scissors, 
but cut them off with a knife, resting 
the cutting on the thumb-nail ; 
though it is evident, that by this 
process they cannot make a very 
clean cut; and, moreover, that they 
must bruise the bark, er tear down 
the petiole of every leaf they cut off. 
Fig. 12.—Cutting of Epacris. 
Having prepared the cutting pro- 
perly, it must be gently taken in 
the left hand, with a pricker (a 
knitting needle answers exceeding- 
ly well) in the right, with which a 
hole is made in the sand to about 
the depth of the shank of the cut- 
ting; the cutting is then placed in 
the hole, and the pricker is again 
put into the sand, to close the sand 
round it; as great care must be 
taken that no vacuity is left be- 
tween the sand and the cutting 
anywhere. As soon as the pots 
| are filled with cuttings, a bell-glass 
less ; as the shorter the shank of| should be put over them, and the 
the eutting, the quicker it strikes, 
and there is less chance of its rot- 
ting. Great care is necessary in 
clipping off these leaves, and cutting 
the cutting across, so as not m the 
slightest degree to lacerate the bark, 
for the smallest wound or laceration 
will prove fatal to the cutting, by 
allowing the moisture to enter it, 
| pots should be placed on a green- 
house shelf, where the temperature 
|is not lower than sixty degrees. 
They will require little attention 
afterwards ; excepting now and 
then when the sun is out, or when 
‘snow has fallen, to shade them 
| from excessive light, and to remove 
such cuttings as begin to rot; for 
