CHAP. IT.] 



SLIPS, PIPINGS. 



succulent plants, such as those of the different 

 kinds of cacti, require to be 

 dried for some time after 

 they are made, by placing 

 them on a shelf in the sun. 

 This is done to prevent the 

 wounded part from becoming 

 rotten in the ground, as the 

 sap is very abundant, and in a 

 very liquid state. 



Slips. — When cuttings are 

 made of the shoots from the 

 root or collar of the plant, or 

 of little branches stripped off 

 with a small portion of the 

 root or stem attached, they 

 are called slips : and thev re 

 quire no other preparation 

 than cutting off the portion of 

 bark smooth and close to the 

 shoot. Slips are generally 

 taken off in March, but they 

 will also succeed if made in autumn. 



Pipings are cuttings of pinks and carnations 

 (see Jig. 10.), and, indeed, the term is applicable 

 to all plants having jointed tubular stems. 

 Pipings were formerly prepared by taking a 

 shoot that has nearly done growing, holding; 

 the root end of it in one hand below a pair of 

 leaves, and with the other pulling the top part 

 above the pair of leaves, so as to separate it 

 from the root part of the stem at the socket 

 formed by the axils of the leaves, so that the 

 part of the stem pulled off has a tubular or 

 pipe-like termination. Hence the name of 



PIPING OF A 



Fig. 10, 



carnation' 



