66 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



joints with a few leaves should be left above the soil. A 

 few leaves to elaborate the sap are an advantage, but only 

 one or two, or the evaporation will be too great. Cuttings 

 of delicate plants require covering with a bell glass pressed 

 closely to the earth to prevent evaporation and keep 

 a regular degree of moisture about the plants, but some 

 cuttings thus treated damp off and require the glass to be 

 taken off and wiped daily. They should of course, be 

 planted in a shady situation and as long as they look fresh 

 they are doing well. Cuttings are often set in the soil of 

 a hot bed or in pots sunk therein, to induce them to take 

 root. Cuttings of succulent plants, as the cacti require 

 to be dried for some time after they are made. The prin- 

 cipal points in making cuttings to be attended to, are to cut 

 off the shoot at a joint without harming the stem ; to 

 select shoots with well matured buds; to fix the end which 

 is to send out roots firmly in the soil ; to keep up an equable 

 degree of heat and moisture ; to cut off part of the leaves 

 and shade the whole to prevent evaporation without ex- 

 cluding light, of which a portion is needed to stimulate the 

 cutting into growth; to keep the soil moist but not too 

 damp; and it is well to transplant them into small pots, 

 supplied with water regularly and moderately as soon as 

 they begin to grow. Cuttings of slow-growing plants are 

 those most liable to fail. 



iSlips are cuttings made from the shoots which spring 

 from the root and collar of the plant or little branches 

 slipped off with a portion of the root and stem attached, 

 and need no preparation except cutting of the portion of bark 

 smooth and close to the shoot. They are treated like 

 cuttings. Nearly all our fruit trees in this climate succeed 

 extreiflely well, propagated from cuttings. They strike 

 as readily as roses. The most successful place for striking 

 cuttings is in the sandy bottom soil by the side of our 



