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CULTIVATION AND ANALYSIS OF PLANTS. it 
like the Acacia and Sweet Peas, should be soaked in hot water, as also the Cypress Vine 
and Verbena seeds. Verbena seed should be pushed lengthwise into the soil, a little 
more than its own length. Evening or just before a shower is the best time for sowing 
seed; a heavy rain would be apt to wash small ones away. As soon as the seeds are sown, 
a piece of old carpet or other heavy cloth spread over them, secured from blowing away, 
is a necessity for successful raising, to insure uniform temperature and moisture; and this 
covering should be retained until the seeds have sprouted. After the plants are up, or 
when the carpet is removed, they must be shaded with thin muslin or white paper. They 
should be sprinkled with a watering-pot that has a fine rose-spout, or, in the absence 
of such an article, a small clothes-broom dipped in water answers the purpose very well. 
As some small seeds produce plants disproportionately large— as, for instance, Mign- 
onette, Sweet Alyssum, Petunia, Portulaca and numberless others—they should be 
thinned out as soon as the plants are sufficiently established, leaving always the best. If 
it is desired to transplant any of them to another place, it will be well if some earth be 
taken up with them. Certain plants transplant badly, and should be sown where they are : 
to grow; and we believe that where such directions are found on seed packets, it is an 
indication of their delicacy on that point. 
CUTTINGS OR SLIPS. 
Slips or cuttings, as the latter name indicates, are pieces cut from the branches of 
growing plants, and should rarely have less than three joints. The old and careful man- 
ner of cutting immediately under a joint, is the best, though many plants will succeed 
where this precaution is neglected. The leaves adhering to the joints are generally short- 
ened, that is, cut short, to save unnecessary waste of vital force. Cuttings may be inserted 
in clean, coarse sand, powdered charcoal, coarse brickdust, or clear sawdust, and in pots, 
boxes or beds, in or out of doors in summer, but within doors only and in a warm, moist 
atmosphere, in winter. 
Some cuttings, as most of the Geranium Family, as well as the fleshy and succulent 
plants, as the Cactuses, will strike readily in almost anything out of doors, from May to 
September. Soft-wooded cuttings of Oleander will strike in bottles of water; and similar 
cuttings of Verbenas, Heliotropes, Petunias and many others, will take root in dishes of 
sand and water, care being taken not to allow the sand to become entirely dry. 
Rose cuttings should be made of shoots that are about half ripe, that is, half way 
between soft vegetable matter and hard wood, cut into lengths of three joints or leaves, 
entirely removing the lower leaf. An even temperature and a warm, moist situation are 
demanded by rose cuttings, while careful shading from excessive heat is equally indis- 
pensable. Leaves of Begonias, Hoyas and some other plants, will strike root and form 
new growths if rightly cared for. 
In transplanting cuttings after they have rooted, the particles of matter that adhere to 
the rootlets should be flirted, filliped or washed off before placing them in their new 
homes. 
, LAYERING. 
As a rule'this process of propagation is mostly had recourse to early in August, and is 
accomplished thus: A shoot of the current year’s growth should be taken and cut about 
334 a 
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