PROPAGATION. 251 



or most otlier deciduous and half- deciduous subjects, the 

 plant soon roots so completely that there is no waste or 

 exhaustion of the sap, and there is time given for the forma- 

 tion, first of the callus, and secondly of the roots. We have 

 tried a hand-glass full of rose-cuttings of various kinds stuck 

 into the soil in the open garden in November, and we have 

 tried a like number of the same kinds similarly treated in 

 February; we took all the necessary pains to give proper 

 moisture in both instances; in April our spring cuttings 

 were all growing fast, and the autumn ones had not stirred. 

 Some of our friends, seeing them at this time, tried hard to 

 persuade us that we had mistaken the seasons and reversed 

 them. Another month, and the buds of the autumn glass- 

 full began to grow, and the shoots of the spring ones had 

 died. This explained in itself the cause of failure; the 

 spring shoots exhausted the cuttings before they could move 

 at the bottom, and though they lived awhile upon the sap 

 within them, they lived, as a nosegay Hves in water, simply 

 on their own means, which water prevents from drying up, 

 as the moist earth did that of the cuttings ; but the growth 

 exhausted it. The cuttings of every succulent subject, such 

 as the green wood of the geranium, many of the cactus, 

 euphorbia, and cereus families, and all juicy plants in general, 

 are the better for drying a day before they are inserted. 

 The gloxinia and achimenes, the gesnera, and some others, 

 are capable of propagation in a singular manner ; the cuttings 

 of these are merely a leaf with a bit of its foot-stalk ; there 

 is no joint required. Every part of the plant appears vital ; 

 but they require bottom heat. The Hoya carnosa, a hard 

 fleshy-leaved plant, very common in greenhouses, is equally 

 curious ; a leaf is the cutting, and we have known the bits of 

 leaves, after the training and trimming of a plant, carelessly 

 left in the pot, to be all struck into the soil ; but these are 

 all exceptions to the thousands of plants that require for 

 healthy propagation a joint for the base and a joint above the 

 soil for the growth. 



Much discussion was raised some time since, in the periodi- 

 cals, about the possibihty of general propagation by leaves. 

 It was assumed, that the Camellia japonica and the orange 

 tribe had been so propagated ; and, therefore, the only thing 

 to learn was how to accomplish it. We dissent, however, 

 from admitting the propriety of these speculative operations ; 



