X INTRODUCTION. 



the same as that for greenhouse plants when the wood is fit, but these require heat. Seeds of stove plants 

 should be sown immediately on their arrival from abroad, although the general time of sowing should 

 be early in spring. A gentle hot-bed is the best for raising tropical seeds, but some few will come up 

 better on a shelf or flue in the hothouse, and the sooner seedlings are potted off separately the better. 



5. Succulent plants, so called, are such as have a fleshy nature ; these are called dry greenhouse or 

 dry stove plants, and consequently require to be grown in the same temperature as greenhouse and stove 

 plants, being natives of the same latitudes. In some gardens there are houses entirely appropriated for 

 these plants, where they are placed on stages or shelves, and kept rather dry throughout the winter ; 

 but in gardens where there are not houses entirely appropriated for them, they should be kept on shelves 

 erected for this purpose in a stove or greenhouse. 



6. Cuttings are slips cut from the mother plant for the purpose of setting, in order that they may 

 make roots, and form young plants. A small house should be appropriated to the propagation of these, 

 but if this cannot be had, a frame may be used, situated so as to have the morning sun only ; otherwise, 

 shading with mats will be necessary. Those requiring heat should be plunged in a bed of tan, or placed 

 in a hot-bed. Cuttings of woody plants take root best in fine sand, as they both strike more 

 freely in it, and are safer to pot off after being rooted, as the sand shakes clean from their roots, which 

 is not the case when they have been planted in mould. But some of the soft wooded kinds will not 

 strike well in sand, therefore they must be planted in mould. In making cuttings no leaves should be 

 taken off or shortened, except in that part which is to be buried in the ground, where they should be 

 cut off as close to the stem as possible. The more leaves a cutting has on it the sooner it will root, 

 and the shallower they are planted the better, but they must be well fastened in the ground. The pots 

 in which they are planted should be well drained with sherds, and kept rather moist, but not too wet, 

 and the hand or bell-glasses with which they are covered, should be taken off and wiped occasionally. 

 When the cuttings are rooted and have been potted off, they require to be placed in a frame for a few 

 days and shaded ; after this they should be hardened by degrees. 



Where plants cannot be easily raised from cuttings or layers, budding, inarching, and grafting must 

 be resorted to, on some other plant nearly related. To describe all the different methods of grafting, 

 budding, inarching, and layering, would occupy considerable space, and would be of little service, since 

 all practical men are acquainted with the most useful methods, and it would be quite impossible to 

 describe these to others without drawings. 



In procuring loam and peat for potting plants, the top spit is always to be preferred, with the 

 turf on it, and as fresh as possible. Where peat cannot be had, decayed leaves or wood may be 

 substituted. The lighter and more sandy loam is the better, as it will require to have less peat and sand 

 mixed with it. A certain quantity of sand is always a proper ingredient in mould intended to be used in 

 potting or shifting plants. 



The culture and propagation of hardy trees and shrubs, herbaceous, perennial, biennial, and annual 

 plants, epiphytes and bulbs, are amply detailed at the end of their respective genera. 



