and otJie?' Species^ hy Cuttings. 463 



root than any of the others, but seems equally sure. So con- 

 vinced am I of the superiority of this mode, in point of time, at 

 least, of extending individual species and varieties, over others 

 usually practised, that I would strongly recommend it to the 

 consideration of nurserymen, and others extensively engaged in 

 the culture of those different plants. It is superior to layers; in 

 so far that ten good plants may, perhaps, be gained by the 

 former method, for one by the latter, and in about one half the 

 time. It it superior to inarching or grafting, unless for par- 

 ticular purposes ; in so far that a plant on its own root is always 

 better than a plant growing on the root of another species. It 

 is superior to raising seedlings, even if seeds can be obtained ; in 

 so far that stronger plants can be raised from cuttings in one 

 year than by seeds in four : that plants from cuttings are consti- 

 tutionally inferior to seedlings, is a question yet to be decided by 

 the vegetable physiologist. 



I have numberless /Rhododendron and Azalea seedlings of 

 various species, which have scarcely risen from the surface of 

 the pans ; at the same time I have plants raised from cuttings of 

 the a. dauricum and H. dauricum atrovirens, little more than 

 twelve months from the parent plant, from 3 in. to 8 in. in height, 

 and with from two to six shoots of various lengths. The pots 

 are quite filled with roots, and the plants may now with safety 

 be planted in the open ground. I beg it to be understood, that 

 reference is only made to the slender-growing species and va- 

 rieties of both genera. I have never tried the larger-growing 

 kinds, nor yet do I think they could be rooted with equal con- 

 venience and facility. 



The following is a summary of the practice invariably pursued ; 

 and the result was always so satisfactory, that it was never found 

 necessary to change it. About the middle, or towards the latter 

 end of July, the summer shoots of the plants above named begin 

 to ripen ; at this time the cuttings must be taken. If taken 

 earlier, they almost always damp; if delayed until the shoots be- 

 come hard, the process of rooting is extremely slow, if roots are 

 ever protruded. The terminal shoots of the branches are 

 generally rejected, as being too long and unmanageable ; the 

 side shoots of about 2 in. in length are preferred. The pots are 

 prepared in the usual manner, as for heath cuttings : that is, 

 they are nearly half-filled with drainage of broken pots, over 

 which is placed a small portion of the fibrous part of peat earth ; 

 the remaining part of the pot is half-filled with finely sifted peat, 

 mixed with about one third of white sand ; and on the top, sand 

 of finely pounded white freestone, firmly pressed down ; the pot 

 is then watered, the cuttings are prepared and inserted about an 

 inch into the sand. The pot is watered a second time, to settle 

 the sand about the cuttings. When the leaves are dry, they are 



1841.— IX. SdSer. H h 



