250 On the Propagation and Groxcth 



tings. He states that small boxes are suspended in the front 

 part of a bed, (on the inside,) in the hot-house, which bed 

 is warmed by means of a tube of sheet iron, instead of tan. 

 The boxes have glazed sashes for covers; in one of these 

 boxes he made the first experiment. The charcoal used for 

 the purpose was fir, [pine,] the refuse of which, being too 

 fine to be burnt, may be had in any quantity. It is sifted 

 through a coarse earth sieve, to separate the large pieces that 

 are usually mixed up with it, and it is then used without fur- 

 ther preparation. The charcoal, he remarks, is better if it 

 has laid exposed to the influence of air and weather. In the 

 propagating box, it is laid only four inches thick in the bot- 

 tom, as a deeper layer would prevent the access of heat, char- 

 coal, as is well known, being a bad conductor. Thus pre- 

 pared, the cuttings were put in. Cuttings of the following 

 plants, placed in charcoal, rooted in eight to fourteen days: — 

 -Euphorbia fulgens and picta, Ipomae'a purga, and I. superba, 

 Hakea microcarpa. Lobelia picta, Thunbergia alata, Lyces- 

 teria formosa, i<^icus religiosa and pendula, Begonia /agifolia, 

 sanguinea, and dipetala, Tropae^olum majus fl. pi., and seve- 

 ral other plants. Cuttings of the Cacti family, planted in 

 charcoal, were particularly successful: of some hundred spe- 

 cimens that had been dried for some days previously in the air, 

 about twenty succeeded perfectly; among them were some 

 echinocactuses, melocactuses, and mammillarias, many of them 

 from one and a half to three inches in diameter. Cereuses 

 and epiphylkims rooted readily, and in this short space of time 

 the roots of many of the species were six inches long; other 

 succulent plants rooted quickly. 



In from a fortnight to three weeks the following, very diffi- 

 cult of propagation: — Piper nigrum, »^'ster tomentosus, JUi- 

 mosa Houstoni, Barleria hystrix, .^'Inus barbata, and many 

 others. 



In from three to four weeks: — Croton adenophylla, Dracae^- 

 na humilis, Panddnus amary W'ldifdlius^ and several others. 



In from six weeks to two months, a few exceedingly hard 

 plants to grow, rooted in the charcoal. 



These being the first experiments, some of which did not 

 succeed well, allowance must be made for the newness of the 

 method, and other circumstances attendant upon resorting to 

 new systems. 



M. Lucas was also highly successful in rooting leaves and 



