280 THE PLEASURE GROUND. 



early part of the season, which will be the means 

 of furnishing good cuttings ; when they should be 

 carefully stripped of their leaves to about half the 

 length of the cutting, with a sharp knife or scissors, 

 and the end cut clean across. They will then be 

 ready for inserting into the cuttings pot, that should 

 be previously prepared, and filled within a couple 

 of inches of the rim with the drainage ; and then 

 have a layer of the fibrous parts of the soil placed 

 over the crocks, when the remaining space should 

 be filled up with sharp pit sand, well washed, 

 and cleared from all earthy matter, &c. The sand 

 should, lastly, be well watered,, and made perfectly 

 firm and level, when it will be fit for the re- 

 ception of the cuttings, which should not be in- 

 serted deeper in the sand than is necessary for 

 the fixture of them, to avoid being displaced in 

 the watering, which should be liberally supplied 

 while they are striking root. 



Many of the sorts will have formed good roots in 

 the course of eight or ten weeks, whilst others will 

 require as many months. In Autumn and Spring, 

 the cuttings should be placed in a shaded part 

 of the stove ; but, in the Summer season, they 

 will succeed equally well in a cold frame, shaded 

 from the mid-day sun. Mr. Muirhead, a very 

 successful propagator of the Ericece, formerly 

 plunged his pots in coal ashes, behind a north wall, 

 in the Summer season, where they were covered 

 with hand-glasses, and removed in Autumn to the 

 Pine stove. The cuttings will, in general, strike 

 root more readily by being covered with bell-glasses, 



