I 



CULTIVATION AND ANALVSIS OF PLANTS. 



like the Acacia and Sweet Peas, should be soaked in hot water, as also the Cypress Vine 

 and Verbena seeds. Verbena seed should be pushed lengthwise into the soil, a little 

 more than its own length. Evening or just before a shower is the best time for sowing 

 seed ; a heavy rain would be apt to wash small ones away. As soon as the seeds are sown, 

 a piece of old carpet or other heavy cloth spread over them, secured from blowing away, 

 is a necessity for successful raising, to insure uniform temperature and moistiue; and this 

 covering should be retained imtil the seeds have sprouted. After the plants are up, or 

 when the carpet is removed, they must be shaded with thin muslin or white paper. They 

 should be sprinkled with a watering-pot that has a fine rose-spout, or, in the absence 

 of such an article, a small clothes-broom dipped in water answers the purpose very well. 

 As some small seeds produce plants disproportionately large — as, for instance. Mign- 

 onette, Sweet Alyssum, Petunia, Portulaca and numberless others — they should be 

 thinned out as soon as the plants are sufficiently established, leaving always the best. If 

 it is desired to transplant any of them to another place, it will be well if some earth be 

 taken up with them. Certain plants transplant badly, and should be sown where they are 

 to grow ; and we believe that where such directions are found on seed packets, it is an 

 indication of their delicacy on that point. 



CUTTINGS OR SLIPS. 



Slips or cuttings, as the latter name indicates, are pieces cut from the branches of 

 growing plants, and should rarely have less than three joints. The old and careful man- 

 ner of cutting immediately under a joint, is the best, though many plants will succeed 

 where this precaution is neglected. The leaves adhering to the joints are generally short- 

 ened, that is, cut short, to save unnecessary waste of vital force. Cuttings may be inserted 

 in clean, coarse sand, powdered charcoal, coarse brickdust, or clear sawdust, and in pots, 

 boxes or beds, in or out of doors in summer, but within doors only and in a warm, moist 

 atmosphere, in winter. 



Some cuttings, as most of the Geranium Family, as well as the fleshy and succulent 

 plants, as the Cactuses, will strike readily in almost anything out of doors, from May to 

 September. Soft-wooded cuttings of Oleander will strike in bottles of water; and similar 

 cuttings of Verbenas, Heliotropes, Petunias and many others, will take root in dishes of 

 sand and water, care being taken not to allow the sand to become entirely dry. 



Rose cuttings should be made of shoots that are about half ripe, that is, half way 

 between soft vegetable matter and hard wood, cut into lengths of three joints or leaves, 

 entirel}' removing the lower leaf. An even temperature and a warm, moist situation are 

 demanded by rose cuttings, while careful shading from excessive heat is equally indis- 

 pensable. Leaves of Begonias, Hoyas and some other plants, will strike root and form 

 new growths if rightly cared for. 



In transplanting cuttings after they ha\e rooted, the particles of matter that adhere to 

 the rootlets should be flirted, filliped or washed off before placing them in their new 

 homes. 



r. A Y p: R I N G . 



As a rule this process of propagation is mostly had recourse to early in August, and is 

 accomplished thus: A siioot of the current year's growth should be taken and cut about 



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