134 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



plants, which it would have been perfectly impracticable 

 to do in the usual manner during the hot months. 



Another method of propagating plants in the hot 

 months, which in principle is somewhat similar to that 

 of the plan of " layering in the air," is as follows : 



Instead of tonguing the shoot to be used for a cutting, 

 as before, it was merely snapped short off, at a point 

 where the condition of the shoot or slip would make it 

 hang on to the plant by the merest shred of bark, as 

 shown in figure 32. Slight as this strip of bark appears 

 to be, it is sufficient to sustain the cutting, without any 

 material injury from wilting, until it forms the " callus," 

 or granulated condition, which usually preceeds the for- 

 mation of roots. The cutting or slip may be detached 

 in from eight to twelve days, after it has been broken in 

 the manner described ; and then potted in two or three 

 inch pots. If watered and shaded rather less than re- 

 quired by ordinary cuttings, it will form roots in eight or 

 twelve days more, and not one in a hundred will fail, 

 even of plants of the Tricolor Geraniums, which we all 

 know are difficult to root under the ordinary modes of 

 propagation, particularly in hot weather. We recently 

 propagated in this way nearly 10,000 plants of the Tri- 

 color class, with a loss of but one per cent.; had we 

 adopted the ordinary method, even with the plants in 

 good condition, our experience has shown that a loss of 

 at least ninety per cent, might have been expected. 



This plan is applicable to many other plants besides 

 Geraniums. The following may be propagated with great 

 certainty by this method, using the young unripened 

 shoots : Abutilons, Begonias, Carnations, Heliotropes, 

 Orotons, Cactus of all kinds, Lantanas, Oleanders, Petu- 

 nias (double), Pelargoniums, or Geraniums of all sorts, 

 Poinsettias, together with nearly all kinds of plants of a 

 woody or succulent character. Besides the absolute cer- 

 tainty of having the cuttings root by this method, it has 



