450 RemarJcs and Observations suggested 



best when pressed against it ; clear silver sand being the medium 

 which consolidates most readily after watering, and presses most 

 closely to the sides and ends of the cutting, allowing the water 

 to pass freel}', is therefore the best. When the weather is cool 

 and damp, there is not much need for shading ; light is beneficial, 

 if the sun is not hot. The cuttings suffer most from evaporation 

 by heat, when newly made, and must be shaded if the sun is 

 strong ; but, if kept close, the evaporation is not so much, and 

 there is less need : the more heat they can stand, without risk of 

 perishing, the sooner will they root ; and when cuttings have been 

 hardened by standing for some time, and appear difficult to strike, 

 and not apt to perish by evaporation, they should be moved into 

 a greater heat, which will cause them to strike sooner. As to 

 the time of making cuttings ; when the young branch is in the 

 act of extending by growth, the living principle is more active, 

 the swelling of cellular matter that precedes roots is sooner 

 formed ; and often a plant will be found to strike from a young 

 shoot, with its base or collar wholly separated from the stem, 

 when a ripened branch will not succeed : they are more apt to 

 die, and die more quickly (short little shoots, not far sprung, 

 are least apt to die), but the living principle is more active, and, 

 if kept close, evaporation is not so great, and some plants will 

 strike in this way that will not by cuttings of the ripened 

 wood. It is of great consequence with all cuttings, where the 

 young branches are short, and will admit of it, to preserve the 

 base or collar of the shoot ; there is a nucleus of buds and fibres 

 formed in the swelling at that place, from which roots are more 

 easily produced, though they will do so at times from the fibres 

 protruding between the joints. In cuttings intended to stand 

 through the winter, they are better to be taken off a little before 

 ripening, in order to allow the wound made by the cut to be 

 healed, or skinned over before the growth is stopped ; if left 

 longer, they should be taken off in spring when vitality begins 

 to be active, and as shortly before that as possible, in order that 

 the wounds may be soon skinned over: the wounds also will 

 heal more readily, if the operation be performed with a sharp 

 knife, to lacerate the skin as little as possible. 



On the section Propagation by Layers and Suckers, little could 

 be added to what is already in the book. To tongue the layer at 

 a side bud on the shoot is the most practically useful ; any way 

 will do, provided the tongue is kept open, and the part above the 

 tongue made as perpendicular as possible, to allow the sap to 

 accumulate, and form a swelling of cellular matter at the bottom 

 of the tongue, from which the roots proceed. Thrusting the 

 knife through the centre of the shoot is tedious, difficult to keep 

 open, and more apt to injure the wood and bark, if the knife is 

 not very sharp ; and the swelling will not accumulate so readily, 



