292 



THE MOIST STOVE. 



such a covering, and pressed pretty tight into the mould in the pot to 

 exclude the atmospheric air, and prevent it from exhaling the juices of 

 the plants, which is the use of such glasses. The cutting being so cir- 

 cumstanced, all its powers are forced downwards to produce roots, and 

 these will soon prove their existence by producing young leaves and 

 branches. 



In small collections, where few cuttings of any individual plants are 

 requhed to be propagated, some discretion ought to be observed in 

 selecting such as most nearly agree in habits to be placed in the same 

 pot ; for if this be not attended to, a difficulty will arise in potting them 

 off, as some kinds will root so much sooner than others, and the process 

 of removing them may be attended "svith some chance of injury* to the 

 others. 



The pots should be prepared by being well drained and filled with 

 the mould most congenial to the genus or species, to within a distance of 

 the top about equal to or rather more than the length the cutting is to be 

 inserted. This upper strata is to be filled up with clean sand, and when 

 well watered and pressed tightly down the cuttings are to be planted. 

 This operation requires care, and the dibble or planting-stick should not 

 be sharp -pointed, for if such a one be used, the cuttings which may be of 

 greater diameter than the point of the stick would not rest upon its 

 lx>ttom, but would be suspended, as it were, by the middle bv the pressure 

 of the sides of the hole against it, while it is necessary to insure success 

 that the cutting rest upon its base on the bottom of the hole made for it. 

 ^Tien the cuttings are planted in the pot, they should then be, for the 

 most pait, covered with a bell-glass pressed shghtly into the sand, so as 

 to exclude the air. They should then be removed to the pit above 

 described, and either set on the surface of the bed, or plunged into it, as 

 the temperature may be. Many plants strike best when placed in the 

 pit "^\ithout bell-glasses over them, but of this it would be impossible 

 to form any estimate without enumerating them by name. It may be 

 taken for granted that most soft-wooded free-growing plants will root by 

 this means, while only the hai'd-wooded and smaller-leaved plants require 

 covering. 



Regularity in watering, shading, and wiping the inside, not only of the 

 bell-glasses, bur also the lights of the pit. must be attended to, and also 

 that no excess of steam enter the pit from the Knings ; but against this 

 our pit has some provision. If the cutrings be left too dry, the bark 

 shrivels up, and the fohage drops oif. for it should be remembered that 

 tropical plants, with veiy few exceptions, prefer a humid, mild heat to strike 



