52 PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 



The great secret in propagating nearly all plants from cut- 

 tings is to prevent them " nagging " or drooping from evapora- 

 tion or loss of moisture after they are separated from the parent 

 plant. It is to prevent this happening that propagators in- 

 variably use close cases in the propagation of all the more 

 tender stove and greenhouse plants. In the case of a single 

 pot or two of cuttings, they are simply covered with a bell-glass, 

 which serves exactly the same purpose in checking evaporation. 

 All the dew-like moisture you see on the lights or glass cover- 

 ing of the case, or trickling down the sides of the bell-glass, 

 would have passed off into the drier atmosphere had the 

 cuttings been uncovered; and this drying influence is pre- 

 judicial to the welfare of the cutting until it has formed roots, 

 which, by drawing or puraping up moisture into the leaves, 

 replace the loss occasioned by transpiration. Succulent plants, 

 such as Echeverias, Pachyphytums, Phyllocactus, Sempervivum, 

 Gasterias, and many others, however, do not require covering, 

 as Nature herself has formed them for living in a dry atmo- 

 sphere, and has given them a thick-celled skin, through which 

 the water in their leaves can pass but very slowly ; and to cover 

 these up in the manner above described as fitted to the general- 

 ity of tender ornamental plants, would induce nine-tenths of them 

 to rot or " damp off" instead of forming roots. ome cuttings 

 are very difficult to root, owing to their tendency to damp off; 

 and when this is the case, Col. Trevor Clarke, F.R.H.S., recom- 

 mends that the bases of the cuttings should be dipped in a 

 strong solution of collodion two or three times, allowing the film 

 to form each time, after which plant them at once in a rather dry 

 medium. Thomson's "styptic" has also been recommended in 

 the case of cuttings which are apt to bleed profusely when cut 

 from the plant, as Stephanotis, Euphorbias, &c. Plants with 

 soft velvety or woolly leaves, as Gnaphaliums, Centaureas of the 

 C. candidissima ( C. Ragusina) type, and other plants with similar 

 foliage, often refuse to root unless fully exposed to the sun 

 and air, either in a sunny frame or on a shelf in the greenhouse 

 near the glass. Cuttings or slips of many hardy Alpine and 

 herbaceous plants or florists' flowers, as Chrysanthemums, 

 Pansies, Phlox, and others of a similar character, may be in- 

 serted in pans of moist, sandy soil, and placed in a cold pit ; 

 or an ordinary garden frame placed under a north wall is well 

 suited for this class of subjects. Many hardy shrubs and bush 

 fruit-trees, as Laurels, Currants, Gooseberries, &c., root freely 

 if they are taken off in the autumn and inserted in rows on any 

 cool sheltered border having a northern aspect. Tamarisk, 

 Willows, and large branches three or four feet in length of some 



