CUTTINGS OF HEATHS. 299 



sand roimd eaoh cutting, and render them firm enough wthout further 

 trouble. Bell-glasses are of great service in striking them, but not 

 indispensable. When they are used, they must be frequently taken off 

 and wiped dry, otherwise the moisture will probably rot the cuttings. 

 When they are dispensed with, the cuttings shoidd be placed in a situ- 

 ation which is moist and shaded, and then they will be surrounded in a 

 great measure with the same circumstances asunder a bell-glass. Yery 

 little artificial heat is necessary in striking Heaths ; much is certainly 

 injurious. A Cucumber or Melon frame nearly exhausted, or the shaded 

 part of a cool stove, will answer the purpose early in spring ; and later 

 in the season when the sun-heat is greater a close frame slightly shaded 

 is all that is required. The care afterwards is to shade during bright 

 sunshine, taking means to remove the shade early in the afternoon, so as 

 to allow the rays, which are not then strong enough to injure the cuttings, 

 to heat the frame, and also to see that the watering is not neglected. 

 More, perhaps, depends upon the kind of water which is used, and the 

 regularity with which it is given, than upon anything else in the opera- 

 tion, if we except the selection of proper cuttings. Eain or river 

 water is by far the best kind to use ; spring- water is usually injurious. 

 After the cuttings have struck root, they should be gradually hardened 

 by exposure to the air before they are potted off. Small thumb-pots 

 are the best for the first potting, and the soil used should be very sandy 

 peat. The greatest care should be taken to preserve the young rootlets 

 from injury, because if this is not attended to the plants will receive a 

 sudden cheek at first, which is very prejudicial. These examples will 

 teach any inteUigent person how to deal with other kinds of plants. 



No further precautions are taken with cuttings, nor does it 

 at first sight appear possible to suggest any: nevertheless 

 the enormous constitutional difference among plants is such, 

 that, while numerous species will strike without any difficulty 

 under almost any circumstances, with the wood ripe or half- 

 ripe, just formed or aged, there are many others which no art 

 has yet succeeded in converting into plants ; and it is by no 

 means uncommon to find that, out of a potful of cuttings of the 

 same species, apparently all ahke and subjected to exactly the 

 same treatment, one will grow and the remainder fail. 



It has been thought worthy of inquiry whether bell-glasses 

 of different colours will not produce different effects upon 

 cuttings, in consequence of their different power of transmitting 

 light. It has been shown by Dr. Daubeny, in a very interest- 

 ing paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 1836, page 



