CUT 



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CUT 



particular circumstances, as many 

 leaves should be removed as would 

 enable the cutting to be firmly fixed in 

 the cutting pot, and if the leaves be 

 large, a portion more may be removed, 

 or lessened in their dimensions, in 

 order to reduce the evaporating surface, 

 success consisting in keeping the cut- 

 ting healthy, and yet preventing it from 

 parting with its stored~up juices ; and 

 hence the reason why we cover them 

 with bell-glasses, and shade them from 

 bright sunshine. The more leaves 

 left, provided they can be kept healthy 

 and vigorous, the sooner will roots be 

 formed by the elaboration of fresh 

 material, and the more quickly will this 

 elaboration take place, the more light 

 the leaves receive, and do so without 

 flagging. Shading or diffused light is 

 essential at first, but the sooner it can 

 be dispensed with the better. Con- 

 tinued too long, the shading would 

 make the cuttings weak and spindly. 



Soil. Except for particular cases, 

 nothing is better than silver sand 

 placed over a layer of soil in which 

 the plant delights, and beneath this 

 the pot to be filled with drainage. In 

 general cases, half an inch of sand, 

 and three quarters of an inch of sandy 

 peat, or sandy loam, will be amply 

 sufficient; and the nearer the cuttings 

 are inserted to the side of the pot, the 

 sooner will they protrude roots. When 

 a bell-glass is used that would come 

 close to the side of the pot, it is a good 

 thing to put one pot inside a larger 

 one, fill up the space between them to 

 within a requisite distance of the top 

 with drainage, then with the soil and 

 sand, and place the cuttings firmly 

 round the outside of the inner pot. 

 In this case the inner pot may be 

 empty, be supplied with damp rnoss, or 

 'even in some peculiar cases filled with 

 water, though the latter would be more 

 generally applicable to stove than 

 greenhouse-plants. The turning of a 

 smaller pot topsyturvy inside of a ' 

 large one, so that the inner forms a 

 sort of chimney, and inserting the out- 

 tings round the sides of its inverted 

 bottom, now the top, is also a good 

 plan, especially when it is desirable to 

 give the plants the stimulus of a good 



bottom-heat, as by stopping with pot- 

 sherd the hole in the bottom, now 

 uppermost, the stimulus is applied to 

 the base of the cutting, and thus roots 

 are encouraged, rather than lengthen- 

 ing upwards. 



Bottom-heat. Unless where fresh 

 growth is rapidly making, and the 

 plants have received extra stimulus on 

 purpose, greenhouse-plants should not 

 have bottom-heat, in general, until a 

 callus is formed at their base. When 

 that is done, a mild, moist bottom- 

 heat a heat a medium between the 

 general temperature of a greenhouse 

 and a stove may be given with ad- 

 vantage. When, however, in many 

 hard-wooded plants heat has been 

 given to cause the protrusion of short 

 new shoots from one to two inches 

 in length, and these are taken off just 

 as their bottoms are getting a little 

 firm, then in their case a mild sweet 

 hotbed at once will just suit them, 

 care being taken that the atmosphere 

 is not kept too hot, to cause more 

 elongation upwards. Stove plants, 

 on the other hand, as they require 

 more heat at all times than greenhouse 

 plants, so scarcely ever do their cut- 

 tings suffer from bottom-heat, though 

 pretty strong ; and hence it often hap- 

 pens that they are more readily propa- 

 gated than greenhouse shrubs. 



Cuttings of hardy Fruit-trees. Any 

 time between the fall of the leaf and 

 the first swelling of the bud in the 

 spring, such cuttings may be put out. 

 As a general rule, we should say that 

 the end of October is a very good time, 

 provided the trees in question have 

 cast their leaves. By early planting, 

 the wounded portions become as it 

 were healed by the callosity which 

 will frequently form at the lower end, 

 even during the winter. It is of im- 

 portance to select a good situation : 

 a sunny and dry spot is a bad one ; and 

 one too shady, especially if with over- 

 hanging trees, is apt to cause the cut- 

 tings to grow weakly. The north side 

 of a wall is very good, placing the cut- 

 tings not nearer than within four feet 

 of the wall, and not farther than seven 

 feet. Here they will get shading during 

 the more difficult portion of their root- 



