PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS, 



205 



end of summer, and all fully established to stand the winter in the green- 

 house. Some cuttings put in late in summer, and some even of those put 

 in late in spring, may not root dming the season : these should be kept 

 during the winter in a diT airy place in the greenhouse, for most of them 

 will root and grow freely on the commencement of spring. 



The article Propagation by Cuttings in the Ency. of Gard., p. 659, 

 is written in a manner so consistently philosophical, that we cannot refrain 

 from making the following quotarion : — The inseition of cuttings may 

 seem an easy matter, and none but a practical cultivator would imagine 

 that there could be any difference in the growth between cuttings in- 

 serted in the middle of a pot and those inseited at its edges. Yet such 

 is actually the case ; and some sorts of trees, as the orange, Ceratonia^ 

 &c., if inserted in a mere mass of earth, will hardly, if at all, throw out 

 roots, while, if they are inseited in sand, or in earth at the sides of the 

 pots, so as to touch the pot in their whole length, they seldom fail in 

 becoming rooted plants. 



" The management of cuttings after they are planted depends on the 

 general principle, that when life is weak all excesses of exterior agency 

 must have a tendency to render it extinct. No cuttings require to be 

 planted deep, though such as are large ought to be inserted deeper than 

 those that are small. In the case of evergreens, the leaves should be 

 kept from touching the soil, otherwise they will damp or rot off; and in 

 the case of tubular-stalked plants, which are in general not very easily 

 struck, owing to the water lodging in the tube, and rotting the cutting, 

 both ends may in some cases (as in common honeysuckles; be advan- 

 tageously inserted in the soil, as, besides a greater certainty of success, 

 there is a chance that two plants may be produced. Too much hght, 

 air, water, heat, or cold, are alike injmious. To guard against these 

 extremes in tender sorts, the best means hitheito de\-ised is that of 

 enclosing an atmosphere over the cuttings by means of a hand or bell 

 glass, according to their dehcacy. This preserves a uniform stillness and 

 moisture of atmosphere. Immersing the pot in earth (if the cuttings are 

 in pots) has a tendency to presers'e a steady, uniform degree of moisture 

 at the roots, and shading, or. planting the cuttings, if in the open air, in 

 a shady situation, prevents the bad effects of an excess of hght. The 

 only method of regulating the heat is by double or single coverings of 

 glass, or mats, or both. A hand-glass placed over a bell-glass Avill 

 presers'e, in a shady situation, a very constant degree of heat. Wliat 

 the degree of heat ought to be is generally decided by that which is 

 requisite for the mother plant. AVhatever degree of heat is natural to 



