54 CUTTAGE. 



too intense. In all cuttings, bottom or root growth should 

 precede top growth, and this is aided by bottom heat. 



Soils. — Soil for all cuttings should be well drained. It 

 should not be so compact as to hold a great quantity of 

 water, nor should it be so loose as to dry out very quickly. 

 It should not " bake " or form a crust on its surface. As a 

 rule, especially for cuttings made of growing parts, the soil 

 should not contain fresh vegetable matter, as such material 

 holds too much water and is often directly injurious to the 

 cutting, and it is likely to breed the fungi of damping-off. 

 A coarse, sharp, clean sand is the best material for use 

 indoors. Very fine sand packs too hard, and should rarely 

 be used. Some propagators prefer to use fine gravel, com- 

 posed of particles from an eighth to a fourth of an inch in 

 diameter, and from which all fine material has been washed. 

 This answers well for green cuttings ; but a propagating- 

 frame should be used to check evaporation, and attention 

 be given to watering, because drainage is so perfect and 

 the material so quickly permeable that uniformity of treat- 

 ment is thereby secured. Damping-off is less liable to occur 

 in such material than in denser soils. The same advantages 

 are to some extent present in sphagnum moss and cocoanut 

 fiber, both of which are sometimes used in place of earth. 

 The "silver sand" used by florists is a very clean and white 

 sand, which derives its particular advantages from the 

 almost entire absence of any vegetable matter. But it is 

 not now considered so essential to successful propagation 

 as it was formerly, and fully as good material may often 

 be found in a common sand-bank. Cuttings which strike 

 strongly and vigorously may be placed in a soil made of 

 light garden loam with twice its bulk of sand added to it. 

 All soils used for indoor cuttage should be sifted or screened 

 before using, to bring them to a uniform texture. 



Hard-wood cuttings are commonly planted outdoors in 

 mellow and light garden loam, well trenched. Only fine 

 and well-rotted manure should be applied to the cutting- 



