86 MAKING AND STRIKING CUTTINGS. [MAY. 



This, however, is a green-house plant, and is 

 difficult to manage, being what gardeners call 

 miffy; which means, that it suddenly dies, 

 without any apparent cause ; though I believe 

 the cause to be too much water, and want of 

 sufficiently well draining the pots, as I have 

 before explained. 



I planted out the only one I had, last year, 

 in a warm border, after it had flowered in the 

 spring ; and it seemed to like the treatment 

 very well, as it flowered again in July. It is 

 not, I am sorry to say, so easy to raise from 

 cuttings as most green-house plants. 



As I have mentioned making cuttings several 

 times in this letter, I ought to give a few direc- 

 tions on the subject. In the first place, all 

 cuttings should be 'made with a sharp knife, 

 exactly below any joint from whence leaves 

 snring forth, as it is from these joints that the 



