210 GARDENING FOR BEGINNERS 



managed, make a clean cut just below an ordinary joint. It 

 is necessary to be particular in every case, as some emit roots 

 more readily than others, but it is as well to take proper 

 care, because valuable and scarce kinds may be treated in a 

 haphazard way and many failures recorded. When the 

 cuttings are severed from the bushes prepare and plant them 

 at once. If they are exposed to sun heat or allowed to get 

 dry flagging will result, and the chances of success greatly 

 reduced. It may be noted here in passing that plants from 

 which cuttings are taken should be healthy and vigorous. 



Whether the cuttings are dibbled in pans, boxes, or pots 

 makes little difference ; but whatever receptacle be used it 

 should be clean, dry, and well drained. Do not place the 

 cuttings sufficiently close to cause damping, or, if they have 

 to remain in the pots long, to cause the young shoots to 

 become weak through overcrowding. After the cuttings have 

 been properly inserted in the soil, and the pots plunged in a 

 warm close case up to the rim in cocoanut fibre or similar 

 heat-retaining material, they should be watered overhead and 

 shaded from the sun until rooted. When the roots pierce 

 the soil and touch the sides of the pots, take them out of the 

 case and place upon the side stages of the house, preparatory 

 to potting off and transferring to a cold frame. 



Two much stress can hardly be laid upon the value of 

 making cuttings quite firm at the base. This is a point of 

 greater importance than is generally supposed, and with 

 certain sorts of trees and shrubs success or failure largely 

 depends upon this simple fact. 



To dry up superfluous moisture and sweeten the air of the 

 case open the lights for half an hour or so every morning, 

 and at the same time remove the moisture that may have col- 

 lected upon the glass during the night with a cloth, sponge, or 

 wash-leather. When the atmosphere in the frame is kept in a 

 high state of saturation there is danger of the cuttings damp- 

 ing off. Another plan is to allow the bottom of the light to 

 rest upon a small piece of wood an inch or so in circum- 

 ference for ventilation and the escape of excessive moisture. 



Soil for Cuttings. Cuttings, like growing plants, prefer 

 certain kinds of soil, and, broadly speaking, all belonging to 

 Ericaceae (Heaths) and Vacciniaceae do best in a peaty soil, 

 and it is well to remember this at the proper time. A 

 compost suitable for the majority of tree and shrub cuttings 

 is composed of light soil with sufficient sharp silver sand to 

 keep it porous. 



Those who do not possess a propagating house may root 



