SUMMER. 93 



the cuttings moist and partly shaded, this pleasant part of 

 gardening may be enjoyed by those who have neither 

 hotbeds nor gardeners to assist them. 



In preparing a bed for cuttings, the soil should be made 

 fine and mixed with sand, gently and thoroughly watered 

 before the cuttings are put in. The north side of a w\all is 

 a good situation for such a bed, though, if proper shade 

 can be secured, the warmth of a south border accelerates 

 the rooting. Pansies, pinks, roses, rockets, snapdragons, 

 fuschias, indeed almost all the common shrubby and herba- 

 ceous plants, may be thus propagated, even by unskilful 

 hands : though many die, the survivors are all the more 

 prized. Let no amateur get discouraged because every 

 cutting a gardener puts in lives, w^hile time after time 

 damp, or dryness, or w^orms, or neglect, or too much care, 

 kill off almost all his little plants — try again is our advice. 

 Slips or cuttings taken from near the root of a plant are 

 most easily rooted, generally they should have ripened 

 wood at the base ; if cut off just below a joint, they root 

 more quickly than when slipped off with a little bit called 

 a heel adhering to them, but the latter are more sure of 

 success. If cuttings are planted in flower-pots, place them 

 round the sides, so as to touch the pot; they root more 

 surely thus than if planted in the centre; and keep all 

 frames, glasses, and cutting-pots clean and free from mould. 

 I remember trying successfully an experiment I read of : 

 the cuttings were of ten roses, and they w^ere struck in 

 water, which was kept warm by the pot being plunged in 

 a hot bed. The hole in the flower-pot was stopped up by 



