PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 125 



morning, and often, when the atmosphere is dry, again 

 in the evening, (when the greenhouse is artificially 

 heated). Kept thus saturated, there is less chance of the 

 cutting getting wilted, either by heat from the sun or 

 from fire heat; for if a cutting once gets wilted, its juices 

 are expended, and it becomes in the condition of a hard 

 cutting, the condition in which, when bent, it will not snap 

 nor break, which has already been described. T.o avoid 

 this wilting or flagging of the cutting, every means that 

 will suggest itself to the propagator is to be used. Our 

 practice is to shade and ventilate in the propagating 

 house or hot-bed just as soon in the forenoon as the action 

 of the sun's rays on the glass raises the temperature of 

 the house to sixty-five or seventy degrees. Of course, 

 in hot weather the temperature cannot be thus lowered, 

 and for this reason the propagation of plants is a difficult 

 matter during the months of June, July and August, 

 except with such plants as Coleus and others of tropical 

 origin. In addition to the shading and watering, Ave 

 always use in the late spring or summer months, a layer 

 of paper over the cuttings (kept sprinkled four or five 

 times a day), until within a few days of their rooting; 

 this paper is used only on bright days, from ten to four 

 o'clock. The same plan is followed after the cuttings 

 are potted off, for four or five days, or until they begin to 

 strike root into the soil. 



This practice of ventilating the propagating house or 

 hot-bed is, I am aware, not in very common use, many 

 contending that the place where the propagating is done 

 should at all times be kept close. I have tried both 

 methods long enough, and extensively enough, to satisfy 

 myself beyond all question, that ventilating and propa- 

 gating at a low temperature, are capable of producing a 

 larger number of plants during the season than a high 

 temperature and a close atmosphere. There need be no 

 failures; and it has the imporant advantage of produc- 



