ON THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 15 



seeds, unless they are imported from abroad, in which case some 

 should be sown immediately, whatever season it may be when they 

 arrive ; for sometimes seeds will grow when first received, which 

 will not if kept a few months longer. The remainder may be sown 

 with your own collected ones, and spring sowing is always preferable ; 

 for the plant becomes strong to stand the succeeding winter. Pots of 

 five inches diameter, and three and a-half inches deep, with plenty of 

 potsherds, should be prepared previous to sowing, with a compost 

 composed of two-thirds peat and one-third loam, well mixed together. 

 In preparing the pots for sowing the seeds in, a large piece of broken 

 pot, or oyster shell, should first be placed over the hole in the bottom 

 of the pot; over this should be put an inch thick of finely-broken 

 potsherds, to drain off the superabundant moisture from the seed ; 

 then fill the 'pot with coarsely screened compost (made as above 

 directed), from an inch to a quarter of an inch from the top, according 

 to the largeness or smallness of the seeds. The surface on which the 

 seeds are sown, as well as the covering soil, should be sifted very 

 fine. After the seeds are sown, cover them with soil to the top of the 

 pot, and give them a gentle watering from a fine rose watering-can. 

 The pots must now be plunged up to their rims in saw-dust in a 

 previously prepared hot-bed, when the burning heat is over. Keep 

 the frame-lights quite close, except allowing, in the middle of the 

 day, a little for steam arising from the bed to pass off till the plants 

 begin to appear. Due care must be taken to allow a supply of water 

 when required. As soon as the rudiments of the second leaf are 

 formed they must be removed to a shaded part of the stove, there to 

 remain till the second leaf is perfectly formed, and the rudiment of 

 the third leaf is perceived, when they must be carefully potted off in 

 small thumb pots, in composts, according to their nature, and again 

 placed in a sheltered place till they have taken root, when they may 

 be finally but gradually exposed to their respective departments. 

 The sooner seedlings are potted off the better, as they do not miss 

 their moving when potted young. I should have observed that if hot 

 sunny weather should occur (as is often the case) while they are in 

 the hot-bed frames, they should be shaded in the middle of the day 

 by means of mats. 



2. Ctfftinr/s. — Most exotics will increase by this mode of propa- 

 gation, and many of them by young cuttings a little hardened; some 

 by ripened ones, and a few by means of very young one*. When it 



