298 On the Cultivation of the Daphne. 



the cuttings not more than three inches in length ; when 

 the whole is dressed over, and in readiness, place only one 

 in a pot, and about an inch deep ; this done, give them a 

 gentle showering with a water-pot, through a fine rose^ and 

 plunge the pots down to their rims in the soil, that was laid 

 on the top of tlie hot-bed, for this purpose ; to be successful, 

 all that is indispensably necessary is, attention ; a little air 

 should be given every day, more especially if it is hot 

 weather, by lifting up the sash an inch or two — taking care 

 to shade them over with a double bass mat, or a wooden 

 shutter^ which I think is better than the mat, as sometimes a 

 sudden gust of wind will strip the frame of every thing, and 

 by leaving half an hour's hot sun upon the cuttings, they 

 are frequently irrecoverably lost ; the time to shade in the 

 morning is, when the sun shines full upon the frame, and to 

 take it off in the afternoon when the sunshine leaves it ; but 

 if the frame is placed in a north aspect, very little shading 

 will be necessary. Occasionally, when the cuttings appear 

 to want water, which will be easily known by the soil on the 

 surface of the pots looking dry, give them a showering over 

 their foliage with a fine syringe, which will be found to be 

 much better than pouring water into the pots, for the injury 

 is almost irreparable if the bed becomes too damp. 



I prefer this mode of propagating the daphne in single 

 pots ; indeed, a great many other kinds of plants do equally 

 well treated in this manner, as the pots can be bought at a 

 trifling expense, and two or three hundred of them take up 

 but very little room ; the cuttings receive no check when 

 repotted, which is a material advantage ; those that are 

 well rooted by fall, will flower during the winter. There 

 is one item that must not be overlooked, that is, in taking 

 the cuttings from the plant, the operator must be careful to 

 leave a quantity of shoots all over it untouched, in order to 

 have plenty of flowers, observing only to thin out the su- 

 perfluous wood for propagating. The daphne always starts 

 to grow just below the flowers ; and generally, in the latter 

 stage of flowering, the extremities of those growths always 

 produce the flowers the next season, so that it should be 

 borne in mind, that whenever the tops of the shoots are cut 

 off', the flowers go with them. I have rooted upwards of 

 three hundred plants in one season, by following the above 

 method, and I do not remember of having a single failure. 

 As soon as the plants are done flowering, they should be 

 placed in a very airy part of the green-house, so that they 

 may become strong and hardy ; if left where they flowered, 

 they are apt to grow too luxuriantly, and become weak un- 

 sightly plants, Yours, 



J. W. Russell. 



Mount Auburn, Cambridge^ July 16, 1835. 



