66 PROPAGATION BY DIVISION. [CHAP. IV. 



vessels, and make them decay. It is also neces- 

 sary to take the greatest care that the end 

 of the cutting is not bruised, and that the bark 

 is not injured in any way ; and that, though 

 the cutting is shaded from the sun to prevent 

 too rapid evaporation, it should not be quite 

 excluded from the light. Cuttings are generally 

 made from the tips of the shoots, and are 

 thought best when cut off just below the point 

 where the shoot of the current year springs 

 from the old wood. Generally speaking, soft- 

 wooded or suffruticose plants grow most readily; 

 and dry hard- wooded plants, such as heaths, are 

 most difficult to strike. Cuttings of the soft- 

 wooded plants may be made at any time in the 

 spring, summer, or autumn ; but the hard- 

 wooded plants do best in autumn, winter, or 

 very early spring. 



The curious little plants in flower in fairy 

 pots, which were so common in the summer of 

 ] 850, were produced by cuttings taken off the 

 tips of the shoots of plants after the flower- 

 buds had formed, and which were then struck 

 rapidly in very small pots, plunged in a slight 

 hotbed, or in a bed of sand in a portable 

 greenhouse, the sand being heated by hot 

 water, as will be described hereafter. 



The cutting being taken off, and the division 

 at the joint being made perfectly smooth (see 

 fig. 6.), several of the leaves should be cut off 

 close to the stem, with a sharp knife ; and, a 

 hole being made in the soil, the cutting should 

 be put in, and the earth pressed close to its 

 extremity, or it will never send out roots. Va- 

 rious means have been devised to induce cut- 



