PEOPAGATION. 



59 



last year's stem a number of suckers -will be deve- 

 loped, which, -when about six inches long, should be 

 cut awaj", with, if possible, a small portion of the 

 old wood attached, and these, if planted in thumb- 

 pots in sandy soil, and placed in a close propagating- 

 frame, will soon root, after which they may be 

 gradually hai-dened off, until ready for planting out 

 of doors. A largo number of deciduous, tuberous- 

 rooted perennials may be propagated in this -waj — 

 Hollyhocks, Dichorisandras, Cannas, Begonias, and 

 Erythrinus being some of the most familiar. 



AH the semi-tropical bedding-plants that need con- 

 siderable heat in winter are best managed by striking 

 a few strong cuttings of each in the autumn, and rely- 

 ing upon the supply of cuttings these will yield in 

 spring if properly treated. Coleus, Altemantheras, 

 Mesembryanthemums, Iresines, Lobelias, Verbenas, 

 Ageratums, Cupheas, Heliotropes, Salvias, belong to 

 this class. If cuttings are not struck in the autumn, 

 a few of the old plants of each must be lifted from 

 the beds and established in pots, and these, if win- 

 tered in a, dry house where the frost is excluded, 

 will commence to grow freely in the spring. These 

 spring growths strike freely in a moist, humid 

 atmosphere, and as the cuttings grow, their tops in 

 turn may be taken and made into other cuttings, and 

 so on until the required quantity of plants has been 

 obtained. 



Orchids. — The propagation of these plants has 

 hitherto received little attention, owing to the demand 

 for them having been met by the enormous number of 

 imported plants with which the market has been kept 

 supplied. When the localities in which these plants 

 are at present found in more or less abundance be- 

 come exhausted, we shall be compelled to turn to the 

 propagator's art for our supply of a large number of 

 the kinds. The majority of Orchids, however, can 

 only be increased by means of division and of seeds. 

 Nevertheless the pseudo-bulbs of such species or 

 genera as are long and noded, such as many of the 

 Dendrobiums, Thunias, Epidendrums, and Barkerias, 

 may be multiplied by means of portions of their 

 pseudo-bulbs, upon which latent buds are formed, 

 whilst many oliers, such as Odontoglossums, Ly- 

 castes, Coelogynes, &c., may be propagated by' 

 severing the pseudo-bulbs from the rhizomes, a 

 portion of the latter being left attached to each 

 cutting, and placing them under conditions favour- 

 able to the production of roots. 



DendroUimis. — The majority of these plants are 

 characterised by long noded pseudo-bulbs, which 

 resemble bamboo-eanes, and along which are deve- 

 loped, first the flowers, and, under certain conditions, 

 these are followed by a number of young plants or 

 suckers, which even in a very early stage of their 



growth are well furnished with roots. These suckers 

 may be severed from the parent bulb, and planted in 

 the ordinary way. The formation of these offsets is 

 natural to most Dendrobiums, and in some of the 

 species a good number of them are annually produced. 

 The numbers of such offsets may be increased by the 

 removal of the flower-buds before they open. By re- 

 moving the pseudo-bulbs from the plant, cutting them 

 into lengths of about six inches, and fastening them to 

 a sphagnum-covered raft or block, or placing them on 

 a bed of sphagnum in a close frame, suckers wfll be 

 produced at almost every node. It wiU be found a 

 wise plan to remove each sucker from the parent 

 bulb as soon as roots are formed, so that the cutting 

 will not be exhausted before the whole of the buds 

 have vegetated. The practice of cutting away all 

 the old pseudo-bulbs from Dendrobiums after they 

 have flowered, and as soon as the new growths have 

 commenced to gTow, is advocated by several successful 

 Orchid cultivators, and whatever the effect of such 

 treatment may have in the production of strong free- 

 flowering growths, it is one which affords an excellent 

 supply of materials for increasing the stock of kinds 

 in the manner above advised ; for although the 

 production of suckers is larger when the pseudo- 

 bulbs are not allowed to bear flowers, yet a good 

 supply may be had from them even after they have 

 flowered. 



Thuniaa are increased by cutting up the ripened 

 pseudo-bulbs in lengths with a node each, and 

 planting them in pots of sand, which should be placed 

 on a shelf in a warm house, and kept supplied with 

 sufficient moisture to prevent the cuttings from 

 shrivelling. 



Calanthes. — These are propagated by cutting each 

 bulb through the middle transversely, and placing 

 them upon pots of moist sphagnum or silver sand, 

 where they will soon callus and develop several buds 

 round the base of each cutting. ■ 



Aerides, Saccolabiums, Angrsecums, Vandas, and 

 other Orchids of similar habit, may be increased by 

 removing the leading shoot, and placing it in sand 

 and sphagnum to strike, thereby causing the stem 

 of the plant to push lateral shoots, which may be 

 removed and potted as soon as strong enough. 



Ansectochili and many other of the creeping herba- 

 ceous Orchids are increased by cutting their stems 

 into as many pieces as there are nodes, and placing 

 them upon sand and sphagnum until they have 

 emitted roots and pushed forth fresh growths. 



Phalaenopsis are generally multipHed by means of 

 lateral breaks from the bases of old plants. In addi- 

 tion to this, some of them, such as P. amabilis, 

 P. rosea, P. SchilUriana, mid P. Stuartiana, have the 

 peculiar habit of developing plantlets on the flower- 

 scapes after the flowers have withered, so that if tha 



