134 ON THE PROPAGATION OV BALSAMS BY CUTTWTGS, 



pagate them by cuttings. My direct object was, as it is stated, to 

 convert one of the members of the plant into a perfect vegetable 

 body, possessed of roots, and capable, under auspicioas circum- 

 stances, of exerting its various vital functions throughout the 

 ■winter, and finally, as I hoped, of producing perfect flowers and 

 seeds in the ensuing spring. On referring to my diary, I find, that 

 on the 28th of August 1831, one cutting was placed under a glass, 

 such as a tumbler, or small belhglass. This cutting was about 

 three inches long; it was taken off at the axilla of a leaf, that is, 

 at the angle formed between the footstalk of the leaf and the 

 main, or other principal stem of the plant. The soil in the pot 

 Was composed of very light sandy loam and peat earth, and the 

 pot was immersed in the mould of the melonry. This cutting 

 evinced certain signs of the formation of perfect roots ; on the 

 12th of September and on the 18th, four other cuttings were 

 placed in a similar situation ; all of them succeeded, and each 

 became covered with blossoms, though it was scarcely four 

 inches in height. On the] 12th October the cutting, of August 

 28th, was eleven inches high; the stem was somewhat slender, 

 and drawn up, owing to the absence of sunlight, but it was furnish- 

 ed with nine perfect semi-double flowers, the ground colotir of 

 which was a pale French«white, and this was beautifully striped 

 with a deep pinkish scarlet. When I witnessed the unexpected 

 result of my experiment, I communicated it in a paper addressed 

 to the Horticultural Society, without delay. 



It remains only to remark, that balsams may be forced into 

 flower at the close of the autumn:— that the cuttings of the young 

 shoots at the axillae, or "angles of the leaves, of the length of two, 

 three, or four inches, will almost invariably produce rooted, 

 flowering plants, provided they be placed singly, an inch deep, 

 in small pots of rich light earth, and then plunged in a very gentle 

 bottom heat, under glass. These are horticultural facts, which I 

 believe to be decidedly established ; and I also consider, that in 

 all probability such plants, if every flower-bud be timely removed, 

 can be preserved during the winter, in a dry stove, or well-aired 

 and warm greenhouse. I am not, however, enabled to speak un- 

 hesitatingly on the latter particular, because I was not, prepared 

 to afford the required shelter during November, and the early 

 part of December, as my house was hi an unfinished state, and the 

 pit in which the young plants were placed, was far too much ex- 

 posed to early damps and hoar frosts. I have fully succeeded, 



