304 Principles of Gardening 



in the year of our Lord 1842, there being abundance of snails, 

 slugs, and beetles on the ground, I released them from their 

 long confinement. 



Just opposite to the flower-garden, there is a dense plantation 

 of spruce fir trees. Under these, at intervals, by way of greater 

 security, I placed the separated parts of two dozen newly killed 

 rabbits, as a temporary supply of food ; and at 7 o'clock in the 

 evening, the weather being serene and warm, I opened the door 

 of the cage. The five owls stepped out to try their fortunes in 

 this wicked world. As they retired into the adjacent thicket, I 

 bade them be of good heart; and although the whole world was 

 now open to them, " where to choose their place of residence," 

 I said, if they would stop in my park, I would be glad of their 

 company; and would always be a friend and benefactor to them. 



Walton Hall, May 11. 1842. 



Art. III. The Principles of Gardening physiologically considered. 

 By G. Regel, Gardener in the Royal Botanic Garden at Berlin. 



(Translated from the Garten Zeitung.*) 



(Continued from p. 264 ) 



I. On the Propagation of Plants — continued. 



C. Sorts of Soil. 

 Cuttings grow in general in the mixture of soil which is best 

 suited to the mother plant; but a lighter sort of soil suits them 

 much better, and in a light heath mould they root quicker and 

 better than in a heavier soil, or one mixed with leaf mould or 

 rotten dung and animal manure. The reason of this is partly 

 owing to their drawing from the heath soil a less condensed 

 nutritive sap, impregnated with scarcely any thing but extract of 

 decayed vegetable matter, which, being more suitable to the plants 

 that absorb it through the healthy spongioles of their roots, ac- 

 cords better with the natural wants of the cutting, and not only 

 prevents it from becoming sickly, but in general increases its 

 vital energy. It is also well known, that in light soils the roots 

 become more luxuriant, and form more spongioles, the less 

 nourishment they find in their immediate neighbourhood ; such, 

 for example, as those roots which are developed in a moist atmo- 

 sphere, in light dry earth, sand, &c. Strewing sand on the sur- 

 face of pots prepared for cuttings is done chiefly to prevent the 

 growth of moss, it also adheres better to the cuttings than earth 

 does. Many cuttings root better in coarse or gravelly sand than 

 in earth, and the cuttings, more particularly those thickly beset 

 with leaves are stuck in so that the lower end of the cutting 

 is barely covered with soil. In filling the pots care must be 



