NEUMANN ON THE SOIL FOE OITTTINGS. 287 



caution is well known; cuttings of the Lemon and Orange, 

 wHcli are by no means willing to strike if it is neglected, 

 become young plants readily if it is attended to ; and in aU 

 difficult cases it is had recourse too. The object of it seems to 

 be to place the absorbent or root end of the cutting in a situ- 

 ation where, while it is completely, drained of water, it may, 

 nevertheless, be in the vicinity of a never-failing supply of 

 aqueous vapour. If it were surrounded by earth, water would 

 readily collect about it in a condensed state, and the vessels 

 being all open in consequence of being cut through, would rise 

 at once into the interior ; but the application of the root end 

 immediately to the earthen bottom of the pot, with which it is 

 so cut as to be nearly parallel, necessarily prevents any such 

 accumulation and introduction of water, unless over-watering is 

 allowed, and this aU good gardeners will take care to avoid. 



M. Neumann gives the following practical advice as to tie earth in 

 which cuttings strike most readily: — "Different sorts of trees do not 

 root ec[iially well in all soils. There are some cuttings which can 

 scarcely be made to succeed in saline earth, while others succeed in it 

 very weU. The soUs-considered the best for striking cuttings in the 

 open air are those which are free, sandy, and soft to the touch. Tamarix 

 elegans and T. germanica prosper in a soil rich in saltpetre ; but the 

 Gingko and Poplars cannot strike in it. Cuttings made in glass-houses 

 generally require to be planted in earth mixed with peat in preference 

 to any other, but varied according to the nature of the plant. What- 

 ever composition we use, we must take care not to employ it too dry or 

 too moist ; in the first case, the earth h.ot being able to sustain itself in 

 a convenient manner around the cutting, the latter falls or is displaced 

 when we wish to water it ; in the second case, the earth being too com- 

 pact, it hinders the formation of roots ; Nature makes vain efforts,, and 

 the cutting suffers, decays, and dies, in spite of its disposition to 

 vegetate." 



Other substances are occasionally employed with some advantage as 

 a substitute for earth, such as chopped damp moss, brick dust, charcoal 

 dust, burnt clay, &e. The three last substances probably act in conse- 

 quence of their being bad conductors of heat, powerful absorbents 

 of- gaseous matter, and in the best mechanical state for preserving the 

 cuttings from contact with excess of moisture. 



An ingenious plan of Mr. Forsyth's is intended to answer 

 this purpose rather more perfectly. He puts a small sixty pot 



