226 PLANTS PKOPAGATED BY CUTTINGS. 



be about one inch long-, and must be inserted in sand, undei- the pro- 

 tection of a bell-glass. In preparing the pot for the cuttings, take care 

 to drain it thoroughly, by iilling it lialf full with potsherds, then place 

 fibrous peat about an inch deep over the drainage, fill up with clean 

 silver sand, and the pot is ready for the cuttings. It is indispensable 

 that a little peat be placed under the sand, as it affords nourishment to 

 the young plants, until they are potted off, and admits of their being 

 allowed to remain longer in the cutting pot than would be advisable, 

 if they were growing in sand only. After the cuttings are all in, jjlace 

 the pot in a close cold frame, water when necessary, and wipe the con- 

 densed moisture from the inside of the glass, twice or thrice a week. 

 Here the cuttings must remain until they are cicatrized, when they may 

 be removed to a rather warmer situation, the pots to be plunged in a very 

 slight bottom heat, and, in a few weeks, they will be ready to pot off. 

 If it is late in the season, say the end of October, before the cuttings 

 are in a fit state to pot off, it will be the best plan to let them remain 

 in the cutting pot through the winter, and to pot them off in February, 

 but if they are not fit for single pots in September, then they will be 

 much benefited by being potted off early. 



THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH PLANTS ARE 

 PROPAGATED BY CUTTINGS. 



The propagation of plants by cuttings is an operation of frequent 

 use, and of considerable importance in all horticultural establish- 

 ments. The many thousand plants that are annually propagated 

 to embellish flower-gardens and pleasure grounds, and the taste dis- 

 played in the arrangement of colours, demand the gi'eatest skill, vigi- 

 lance, and forethought, to prepare, to arrange, and to provide for the 

 display, that the pioneers of modern improvements, and of refined taste, 

 have introduced into flower-garden and pleasure-ground scenery. 



The conditions necessary for the propagation of plants by cuttings 

 are, a certain j^ortion of organized matter, the assistance of leaves, a 

 degree of lieat and moisture accordant with the nature of the plant, and 

 free drainage at the roots. 



When the aqueous or ascending sap reaches the leaves, the water is 

 discharged through the minute invisible pores, called stomata, and by 

 the decomposition of carbonic acid gas, which separates to carbon, 

 and sets the oxygen free, a vital action is performed, by which the sap 

 is elaborated or changed into the organic matter, called the " true " or 

 descending sap. It is then that all parts of the plant are supplied with 

 a store of organized matter, which renders the parts fit to be employed 

 as cuttings. When removed from the parent, that store, under proper 

 management, will enable them to put forth roots and new leaves, and 

 to develop all the parts required for the growth of the plant. If the 

 shoots are in a rapid state of growth, full of rising sap, their tissues lax 

 and not matured, failures may be expected to attend all attempts to 

 propagate them by cuttings. 



The next part of tlie subject is to inquire in what manner the leaves 



