EXTRACTS. 15 



sisted by placing the plants in a little artificial heat, at the early part of the 

 season, which will be the means of furnishing good cuttings; when they should 

 be carefully stripped of their leaves to about half the length of the cutting, 

 with a sharp knife or scissors, and the end cut clean across. They will then 

 be ready for inserting into the cuttings pot, that should be previously pre- 

 pared, and filled within a couple of inches to the rim with the drainage; and 

 then have a layer of the fibrous parts of the soil placed over the cracks, when 

 the remaining space should be filled up with sharp pit sand, well washed, and 

 cleared from all earthy matter, &c. Tiie sand should, lastly, be well watered, 

 and made perfectly firm and level, when it will be fit for the reception of the 

 cuttings, which should not be inserted deeper in the sand than is necessary 

 for the fixture of them, to avoid being displaced in the watering, which should 

 be liberally supplied while they are striking root. 



" Many of the sorts will have formed good roots in the course of eight or ten 

 weeks, whilst others will require as many months. In autumn and spring the 

 cuttings should be placed in a shaded part of the stove; but in the summer 

 season, they will succeed equally well in a cold frame, shaded from the mid- 

 day sun. Mr. Miirhead, a very successful propagator of the Ericeae, for- 

 merly plunged his pots in coal ashes, behind a north wall, in the summer 

 season, where they were covered with hand-glasses, and removed in autumn 

 to the pine stove. The cuttings will, in general, strike root more readily by 

 being covered with bell glasses, the size of which should be regulated by the 

 pots, and be occasionally wiped when there appears an accumulation of 

 moisture on their inner surface ; but these glasses may consist of those with 

 holes in their tops, which will permit the moisture to evaporate, and prevent 

 it, in a great measure, from injuring the cuttings. Mr. M'Nab, however, 

 and the Messrs. Loddiges, both consider these glasses unnecessary, except for 

 a few sorts. When the cuttings begin to grow freely, it is generally a sure 

 sign of their having made roots; they should then be taken carefully out, and 

 put into the smallest sized pots that are made, placing four or five round the 

 si.li s of each, and then placed under a hand-glass, and shaded, until they be- 

 gin to make young roots in the fresh soil, when they may be gradually exposed 

 to the sun and air; and when they appear to be of sufficient strength, and 

 their roots well established in the soil, they should be planted singly into small 

 pots, aud afterwards treated in every respect the same as was mentioned for 

 the seedlings. 



" The culture of the Ericeas is rendered more easy by their being seldom 

 attacked with insects ; the green fly will occasionally infest some of the plants, 

 but it is easily eradicated by fumigation, or by dipping the infested shoots 

 into a decoction of tobacco- water. Some of the species are also subject to 

 mildew ; but this is likewise readily subdued, by dusting a little sulphur over 

 the affected parts; the most effectual preventative for the latter disease, how- 

 ever, is a free circulation of air amongst the plants." 



(to he concluded in our next.) 



EXTRACTS. 



Plants figured in the following Periodicals for December: — 



Curtis') Botanical Magazine. Edited by Dr. Hooker, King's 

 Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. Price 

 . Gd. coloured, 3s. plain. 



1. l.upinus incanus, Hoary Lupine. Class, DiadelpbJa; order, Decandria; 

 natural order, Leguminosa\ The beautiful genus of Lupine, of which the 

 greater number of species, hitherto enumerated in our Universal floras, are 

 natives either of the Booth of Europe or of the Andes of Peru, has been 

 greatly iocreaied l>y the discoveries of Mr. DoCOLAl on the north west const 



