CUTTINGS. 



73 



CUTTINGS. 



scissors, but cut them off with a knife, 

 resting the cutting on the thumb-nail ; 

 though it is evident, that by this pro- 

 cess they cannot make a very clean 

 cut ; and, moreover, that they must 

 bruise the bark, or tear down the 

 petiole of every leaf they cut off. 

 Having prepared the cutting properly, 

 it must be gently taken in the left 

 hand, with a pricker (a knitting needle 

 answers exceedingly well) in the right, 

 with which a hole is made in the sand 

 to about the depth of the shank of the 



CUTTING OF T2PACRIS. 



cutting ; the cutting is then placed in 

 the hole, and the pricker is again put 

 into the sand, to close the sand round 

 it ; as great care must be taken that 

 no vacuity is left between the sand 

 and the cutting anywhere. As soon 

 as the pots are filled with cuttings, 

 a bell-glass should be put over them, 

 and the pots should be placed on a 

 greenhouse shelf, where the tempera- 

 ture is not lower than sixty degrees. 

 They will require little attention 

 afterwards ; excepting now and then 

 when the sun is out, or when snow 

 has fallen, to shade them from ex- 

 cessive light, and to remove such cut- 

 tings as begin to rot ; for one rotten 

 cutting, if not taken away imme- 

 diately, will infect the whole pot, 

 and they will all damp off in a very 

 little time. If a potful of each sort 

 should be more than is required, care 

 must be taken to sort the cuttings 

 out in such a way that the smooth 

 kinds may be placed together, and 



;he hairy ones, the viscid ones, &o 

 by themselves. This separation is 

 the more necessary, as the hairy kinds 

 generally collect more moisture than 

 the smooth sorts ; besides the great 

 difference of time required to strike 

 them, some of the smooth or glabrous 

 sorts striking in a month, while some 

 of the viscid ones require three or 

 four months. When the cuttings are 

 put in December, the greater part of 

 them will be struck by February or 

 March, when they should be carefully 

 potted into thumb-pots, about half 

 full of very fine potsherds, and the 

 other half filled up with soil composed 

 of equal parts of finely-sifted peat 

 and silver sand. The plants will now 

 only require to be kept under the 

 hand-glass for a few days, to let them 

 root again ; and then they must re- 

 main for about a fortnight or three 

 weeks on the greenhouse shelf, after 

 which they may be with safety re- 

 moved to the cold frame. 



Cuttings of stove-plants generally 

 require to be planted in the same 

 kind of soil as the parent plant, and 

 plunged in a gentle bottom heat, from 

 a hotbed of tan or stable manure, 

 under a bell-glass ; though some of 

 the more slender-growing kinds re- 

 quire silver sand, without bottom heat, 

 As cuttings of many stove-plants are 

 very large, care must be taken never 

 to allow them to flag or droop, and 

 also to preserve as many of their leaves 

 as possible ; indeed, this rule may be 

 applied to almost all cuttings. 



Succulent plants, such as Cactuses, 

 Euphorbias, Mesembryanthemums, 

 Crassulas, and the like, require to be 

 kept out of the ground for a few days 

 to dry, after they have been cut off ; 

 and then to be planted in a mixture 

 of peat, sand, and brick rubbish, well 

 drained. The pots may afterwards be 

 set on the dry shelf of a warm green- 

 house, and only occasionally and 

 slightly watered ; many of them, in- 



