THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 305 



cutting has time enough to make roots, by which its grosser foo d 

 may be conveyed to it. Hence has arisen the practice of striking 

 plants under bell-glasses, fitting tight to the soil on which they rest. 

 Ignorant people believe that the use of a bell-glass is to keep out 

 air, which is impracticable and useless. Bell-glasses act by keeping 

 in moisture. From the surface of warm, damp soil water is per- 

 petually escaping in the form of invisible vapour ; if the soil is freely 

 exposed, that vapour is dispersed as fast as it is formed ; but when 

 it is confined beneath a bell-glass the air is unchanged, and the 

 vapou r remains in a state of suspension, bathing and invigorating 

 the whole surface of the cuttings. If this is well managed the whole 

 of the injurious effects of sunlight are prevented, and all the advan- 

 tages of it secured. But it is not sufficient to place cuttings under 

 a bell-glass with a moist soil and a due supply of bottom-heat. Two 

 other things must be considered — the one is, to preserve the external 

 air in a uniform state ; the other is, to take care that the soil is not 

 too wet. If the air on the outside of the bell-glasses is not as warm 

 as that beneath them, or warmer, the moisture floating in their 

 interior will condense on the sides of the glass and run down, by 

 which means the air that surrounds the cuttings will fluctuate as to 

 the quantity of water it holds suspended ; and if the external air is 

 much colder than the internal, will, in fact, be dry instead of damp. 

 In their delicate state tender cuttings will not bear this ; it is of the 

 utmost consequence to them that all the conditions to which they 

 are exposed, except light, should be perfectly steadv. 



The condition of the soil as to water, is also of infinite importance 

 If it is wet, cuttings are apt to rot. If dry, they are sure to fade 

 "When a cutting is placed in a wet medium, it may attract mor e 

 water than it can digest : in that case its fluids will become putrid 

 and its solid fabric must decay. It is therefore indispensable, in all 

 delicate operations, that the soil should be of such a nature as to be 

 incapable of holding much water between its particles ; and hence 

 the value of silver sand, the most favourable of all the materials 

 within a gardener's reach. Nevertheless, there are some hard- wooded 

 plants which will not only bear an excess of water, but are the better 

 for it. We have seen the common Ghent Azaleas struck by placing 

 a cutting of the young wood with a heel to it, in a bottle of water, 

 enclosed within a large Ward's case, none of the leaves having been 

 removed. 



In such plants as the azalea, however, it is to be observed, 

 that the dense texture of the wood prevents the introduction of 

 much water at a time, that the cuttings are very slender, and the 

 leaves very large. Plants that are differently constituted can bear 

 no such treatment. Let it be tried with a succulent plant, and the 

 cutting would be rotten in a week. Succulent plants, indeed, will 

 generally do best where there is no more moisture in contact with 

 them than what the air holds suspended. When they are gu mmy, or 

 milky, or resinous, it is necessary to let the end which is to be plunged 

 in the ground become dry, so that the mouths of the veins may con- 

 tract, and thus hinder the too rapid introduction of water. Mr. 

 Neumann's mode of doing this is ingenious. When he takes off 



October. 20 



