" PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. t>7 



tings in the usual manner, and insert them in the sand 

 close enough to touch each other, as in figure 25. The 

 sand is then to be watered to bring it to the condition of 

 mud. The saucer with the cuttings is then placed on 

 the shelf of the greenhouse, in the hot-bed, or in a sunny 

 window of any room in the dwelling-house ; in each case 

 fully exposed to the sun and never shaded. But one 

 condition is essential to success : until the cuttings be- 

 come rooted, the sand must be kept continually saturated 

 with water and always in the condition of mud. To do 

 this the saucers must be watered at least once a day with 

 a very fine rose watering pot, and the watering must be 

 done very gently, else the cuttings may be washed out. 

 There is every probability that ninety per cent, of all cut- 

 tings put in will take root, 

 provided they were in the 

 proper condition, and the 

 temperature has not been 

 lower than sixty-five de- 

 grees nor above one hun- 

 dred. By the saucer sys- 



Fig. 25.-SAUCEK PROPAGATION. ^ ft j^,. temperature 



may be maintained without injury, as the cuttings are in 

 reality placed in water, and will not wilt, provided the wa- 

 ter is not allowed to dry up. Still the detached slip, until 

 rooted, will not endure a long continuance of one hundred 

 degrees, and we advise that propagation be done at such 

 seasons that the cuttings, wherever they may be placed, 

 will have, as near as possible, an average temperature of 

 seventy-five or eighty degrees in the sunlight. The cut- 

 tings will root (according to kinds and the temperature) in 

 from six to twenty days. Verbenas, Heliotropes, Fuchsias, 

 etc. , root in a week, while Roses, Carnations, or Azaleas, 

 take two, three, or four weeks. When rooted they should 

 be potted in light soil (such as recommended in the 

 article "Propagating of Plants by Seeds"), in pots from 



