82 



CUTTINGS. 



root again ; and then they must 

 remain for about a fortnight or three 

 weeks on the greenhouse shelf, after 

 Avhich they may be with, safety 

 removed to the cold frame. 



Cuttings of stove-plants generally 

 require to be planted in the same 

 kind of soil as the parent plant, and 

 yjlunged in a gentle bottom heat, 

 from a Iiotbed of tan or stable 

 manure, under a bell-glass ; though 

 some of the more slender-groA^ing 

 kinds require silver sand, without 

 bottom heat. As cuttings of many 

 stove -plants are very large, care 

 must be taken never to allow them 

 to flag or droop, and also to preserve 

 as many of their leaves as possible ; 

 indeed, this rule may be applied to 

 almost all cuttings. 



Succulent plants, such as Cactuses, 

 Euphorbias, JMesembryanthemums, 

 Crassulas, and the like, require to be 

 kept out of the ground for a few 

 days to dry, after they have been 

 cut off ; and then to be planted in a 

 mixture of peat, sand, and brick 

 rubbish, v,-ell drained. The pots 

 may afterwards be set on the dry 

 shelf of a warm greenhouse, and only 

 occasionally and slightly watered; 

 many of them, indeed, will require 

 no Avater till they have struck. 



The French have several ways of 

 making cuttings which are not yet 

 common in British gardens ; but 

 some of which have been introduced 

 in a few places with very great suc- 

 cess. The principal of these are 

 called the heeled cutting {houture a 

 talon), and the ringed cutting {hou- 

 ture par etraaglement). The first 

 of these merely consists of taking 

 out a small portion of the branch on 

 which the sprig used in making the 

 cutting grew, as shown in Jir/. 7. 

 This forms a kind of heel, and the 

 cuttings thus made are said to take 

 root much more readily than those 

 made in the ordinary manner. 



The houture par etranglement is 

 formed by tying a ligature round 

 the branch from which the cutting 



FIG. 7. FIG. 8. 



is to be made, just below one of the 

 buds. This will cause a swelling 

 (a, in fig. 8) to form just below the 

 ligature, and from this swelling 

 roots are soon protruded. 



]\rany plants, the shoots of which 

 will not root readily, are easily in- 

 creased by cuttings of the roots ; 

 such as some of the Acacias, Roses, 

 &c. Eoots not less than a quarter 

 of an inch in diameter should be 

 chosen, and planted in the same 

 kind of soil in which they have pre- 

 viously been growing, with their 

 tops just above the surface of the 

 soil, and plunged in a gentle bottom 

 heat, when they will, in a few weeks, 

 form a bud and send up a shoot, 

 I and thus become well-established 

 j plants in a shorter time than by 

 ' almost any other method. Many 

 ! hardy plants are raised from cut- 

 j tings of the roots, and these only 

 I require to be put into light rich 

 soil near a wall, or in any other 

 sheltered situation, and to be kept 

 ' i-ather moist, and shaded occasio- 

 nally. 



