CUTTINGS. 



70 



CUTTINGS. 



abundance of sap, such as Pelargo- 

 niums, (Geraniums,) Fuchsias, Pe- 

 tunias, and Verbenas, strike root 

 readily ; while dry, hard - wooded 

 plants, such as Heaths, and the dif- 

 ferent kinds of Epacris, are very 

 difficult to strike. The usual direc- 

 tions for striking cuttings are, to put 

 them in pure sand, and to cover them 

 with a bell-glass ; and this may be 

 done as a precautionary method with 

 all cuttings, though it is only essential 

 with those that are difficult to strike. 

 Some cuttings are directed to be made 

 of the old wood, and some of the 

 young tender shoots of the current 

 year ; in general, however, the safest 

 plan is, to take off the shoot just 

 below where the young wood is united 

 to that of the previous season, so that 

 a small portion of the old wood may 

 remain attached to the cutting. The 

 shoot should be cut off with what 

 gardeners call a clean cut (as, if it be 

 bruised, or left jagged, or uneven, it 

 most probably will not grow) ; and it 

 should be planted in sandy soil, to 

 ensure drainage, as the cutting will 

 rot, or, as gardeners term it, damp off, 

 if water in a stagnant state be suffered 

 to remain round it. When the cut- 

 ting is put into the ground, the earth 

 should be made quite firm to its lower 

 end ; as, if any space be left below it, 

 the roots will wither as soon as they 

 shoot forth. Cuttings are considered 

 most likely to succeed when taken 

 from the horizontal branches of the 

 plant, nearest the ground ; and as 

 least likely to strike root, when taken 

 from the upright shoots at the summit 

 of the plant; though this rule has many 

 exceptions. A shoot of the soft- 

 wooded kinds, which strike easily, 

 may be divided into several cuttings, 

 all of which will grow ; but with all 

 the hard-wooded kinds, only one cut- 

 ting must be taken from the tip 

 of each shoot. Shoots which are of 

 the average strength, are preferable 



to those that are either very strong or 

 very weak ; and those are best that 

 have only leaf-buds, and no flower- 

 buds on them. 



Some cuttings which are difficult 

 to strike, are directed to have bottom 

 heat. This means, that the pots in 

 which they are planted are to be 

 plunged into a hotbed, that the sti- 

 mulus afforded by the heat may in- 

 duce the cuttings to throw out roots. 

 Care must, however, be taken that the 

 hotbed is not too hot, as in that case it 

 sometimesburns the tender roots of the 

 cuttings. Mr. Alexander Forsyth, a 

 very intelligent young gardener, re- 

 commends the following plan : — Take 

 a wide-mouthed forty-eight sized pot, 

 and put some potsherds at the bottom, 

 in the usual manner. Then take a 

 wide-mouthed small sixty, and put a 

 piece of clay in the bottom, to stop the 

 hole, and then place it inside the other, 

 so that the tops of both pots may be 

 on a level. The space between the 

 pots must then be filled in with sand 

 or other soil, and the cuttings inserted 

 as shown in fig. 10. The inner pot 



fig. 10. 



FORSYTH'S MODE OF STB IKING CUTTINGS. 



should be filled with water, and the 

 outer pot may then be plunged in the 



