ON PROPAGATING TRKCS. 53 



quarters of an inch long, hairy, green, and deeply divided into 

 two lips— the upper one entire, the lower deeply two-cleft. The 

 corolla, of a rich blue, between two and three inches long, is re- 

 markable for its broad gaping mouth, the upper lip being long, 

 falcate, and erect, enclosing the stamens and pistil; the lower lip 

 hanging with two lateral oblong reflexed lobes, and the middle 

 one very broad and emarginate. 



The S. patens will probably thrive best under the same treat- 

 ment as that which succeeds with S. fulgens, and like that plant 

 it will be found to vary much in the size, the brilliancy, and the 

 number of flowers, according to die temperature and light in 

 which it is grown. Particular care should be taken not to weak- 

 en the plant, or suffer it to become etiolated, in order that the 

 raceme may not lengthen too much, and increase the distance be- 

 tween the flowers. 



We owe this splendid addition to our gardens to the exertions 

 of John Parkinson, Esq. her Majesty's consul at Mexico, who 

 transmitted seeds to this country early last year ; and it was 

 raised and first flowered in August last by Mr. W. B. Page, Nur- 

 seryman Southampton. It has also been raised by Messrs. Low, 

 Clapton, and Mr. Pontney, nurseryman at Plymouth. 



G. Bkntiiam. 



ARTICLE IV. 

 ON PROPAGATING TREES BY CUTTINGS IN SUMMER. 



BY T. A. KNIGHT, ESQ. F. R S. 



When a cutting of any deciduous tree is planted in autumn 

 winter, or spring, it contains within it a portion of the true as it 

 has been called, or vital sap of the tree of which it once formed 

 a part. This fluid relatively to plants, is very closely analogous 

 to the arterial blood in animals : and I shall therefore to dis- 

 tinguish it from the watery fluid, which rises abundantly through 

 the alburnum, call it the arterial sap of the tree. Cuttings of 

 some species of trees very freely emit roots and leaves, whilst 

 others usually produce a few leaves only and then die; and others 

 scarcely exhibit any signs of life ; but no cutting ever possesses 

 the power of regenerating, and adding to itself vitally, a single 

 particle of matter, till it has acquired mature and efficient foliage. 

 A part of the arterial sap, previously in the cutting, assumes an 



