370 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GAEDEXIXG. 



the number it is intended to hold, and the size of 

 the hell-glasses to he used; for large hatches, 6- 

 inch or even 8-inch pots may he used, the most 



■ convenient small size being 5-inch. These should 

 Tbe filled to within two inches of the top with 

 crocks, which should be covered with a layer of peat 

 fibre, and the i^ot then filled to within half an inch 



■ of the top with an equal mixture of finelj'-sifted 

 ,peat and sand. This should be pressed in very 

 firmly for all the kinds of Heaths, and exceptionally 

 £rm for the hardest- wooded sorts. Clean silver sand 

 will occupy the remaining portion of the space. A 

 sprinkling with water is necessary to make the sand 

 sufficiently adhesive to enable the operator to dibble 

 the cuttings in firmly. Dry sand must be used to 

 fill up the holes made by the dibber and to make the 

 surface level. The cuttings should be dibbled in 

 about half an inch apart from each other, leaving 

 sufficient space round the margin of the pot to allow 

 the bell-glass to rest upon the sand, so as to keep the 

 •cuttings perfectly air-tight. Water well on the 

 completion of the dibbling, and after the water has 

 drained off the cuttings, bell-glasses may be placed 

 ■over them, and the pots placed in a house where the 

 temperature ranges from 55° to 60^. A dry stage, 

 or one covered with a layer of ashes, is better for the 

 cutting-pots to stand upon than a heated bed or 

 cocoa-nut fibre. The cuttings require to be shaded 

 from sunlight, and to be protected from roof-drip as 

 much as possible. Wipe the bell-glasses dry about 

 every second or third morning. Water may be 

 given whenever the sand approaches drj-ness, care 

 being taken to allow the water to drain off the cut- 

 tings before the glasses are replaced. As soon as 

 rooted, the cuttings will commence to grow, when 

 the glasses should be gradually removed, and the 

 young plants hardened by a little exposure, until 

 finally the pots are transferred to a cool frame to 

 await potting off. Before separating the plants 

 give the whole a good soaking with water, which 

 will cause the soil to adhere to the roots. Small 

 pots and very sandy peat, which should be pressed 

 in firmly — care being taken to keep the base of the 

 ;stem close to the surface — complete the operations 

 of the propagator. After this, proper attention to 

 the watering, airing, and shading of the plantlets 

 -will be necessary for the production of a batch of 



■ sturdy, healthy little plants by the end of the year. 

 A. section of a cutting-pot prepared for and filled 

 with Heath-cuttings is here shown, and will enable 

 the reader to understand the instructions here given 

 with respect to this important subject (Fig. 6). 



Success in the propagation of Heaths is the key- 

 . stone to success with by far the larger proportion 

 •of hard- wooded green-house plants. Epa crises may 

 be treated as advised for Heaths, the only difference 



being that, instead of stripping off the lower leaves 

 in the preparation of the cutting, it will be necessary 

 to use a pair of small scissors, as the leaves of these 

 plants cannot be pulled off without tearing away a 

 portion of the bark. Many successful propagators 

 prefer to put in the cuttings with the whole of the 

 leaves upon them, and if carefully performed, this is 

 a much safer practice than the use of scissors to 

 remove the leaves, an operation requiring much 

 practice and care to prevent injm-y to the cutting. 

 Several of the species of Heath require to be grafted 

 upon others of a similar habit and constitution, cut- 



Fig. 6,— Section of Cutting-pot Prepared for and Filled 

 WITH Heath-citttings. 



1, Silver sand ; 2, soil ; 3, rougli material j 4, crocks. 



tings of them failing to produce roots. We shall 

 refer to these when treating upon grafting. 



The Boronias, Leschenaultias, Acacias, Correas, 

 Croweas, Eriostemons, Gene thy llis, and all those 

 green-house plants with wood of a hard wiry na- 

 ture, are not so satisfactorily propagated in the 

 autumn as they are in the early spring. In the 

 latter season the plants fi'om which the cuttings are 

 to be taken should be placed in an intermediate tem- 

 perature and sp'inged once or twice a day. This 

 treatment induces rapid growth in the tips of the 

 shoots, and it is the short vmy pieces from the lower 

 portions of the plants which are the most likely to 

 strike freely, if put into pots prepared as advised for 

 Heaths, and treated similarly to them. Instead of 

 standing them upon a dry cool stage, however, it is 

 best to plunge the pots containing cuttings of the 

 above-mentioned plants in a gentle hot-bed, after 

 they have stood for a fortnight upon the stage. The 

 advantage of this treatment for these cuttings is that 

 they callus when upon the stage, before the influence 

 of bottom heat is brought to bear upon them. The 

 heat then quickly excites the sap into activity, the 

 result of which is the formation of roots and im- 

 mediate growth. For aU hard- wooded plants that 



