68 THE STORY OF MY ROCK GARDEN 



glass lid which can be opened or closed at will. 

 These tiny Saxifrages need handling with extreme care 

 and a very sharp knife is essential, so as to make 

 quite a clean cut without bruising. 



If the cuttings are syringed daily with a very fine spray, 

 and the glass carefully wiped to remove the moisture 

 which condenses on the inside of it, a good proportion 

 of these cuttings will root, and as soon as I see they are 

 growing I give more air and gradually harden them off. 



It is important to plant these little pieces very 

 firmly, and the way I go about it is as follows : I take 

 a pot five inches in diameter at the top, and fill to one- 

 third of its depth with broken crocks, then spread over 

 this a layer of moss to prevent the soil clogging the drain- 

 age. Having previously mixed my soil according to the 

 known requirements of the particular plant, I nearly fill 

 the pot with it, pressing it down very firmly indeed. 



The soil should be in that mellow state which allows 

 of very firm packing, and when smoothed over by a 

 circular piece of wood on a handle, somewhat like a 

 household green presser, or the bottom of another pot, 

 I sprinkle over it a thin layer of fine dry silver sand. 



Then with a dibble of a size suited to the cutting 

 I make a hole in the soil, just where it touches the side 

 of the pot, and put in cutting number one, with the 

 dibble I then press the soil up to it very firmly, having 

 made quite sure that the cutting went to the very 



