348 



HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



the depth to which the cutting is to be set, say 

 from one-half to an inch in depth. It is of much 

 importance that the 

 Fig. 122. cuttings be planted be- 



ms-,^ fore the leaves flag, and 



1 3s^ ^MI^Am*^ ^ * s °^ e( l ua l conse- 

 B J|2\ quence that they be 

 It S^fe ^^ST arranged as near to the 

 llfKy ^ — ^ edge of the pot as pos- 

 ikLj^ / s ^ e > those so placed 

 ^^^^ 3: * r will root sooner than 

 it / such as are set nearer 



mlg the centre. In striking 



Iff soft-wooded plants, no 



||U suspension to their en- 



1M ergies should be allow- 



yL\ ed to take place if pos- 



M\ sible ; hence their leaves 



should not be permit- 

 cutting of pelargonium, ted to flag, the opera- 

 tion should be carried 

 on in the shade; and when planted they should 

 be gently watered, and the pots plunged in a 

 slightly-heated hot-bed, and air excluded by 

 covering with bell or hand glasses, if the conve- 

 nience of a properly-constructed propagating 

 pit is not at command. Shading from bright 

 sun, keeping the atmosphere damp around them, 

 and maintaining a uniform mild heat, are the 

 conditions most favourable for their speedily 

 striking root. Care must, however, be taken 

 that they suffer not from damp, and that air be 

 admitted to them gradually, and increased as 

 the process of rooting advances. This requires 

 not daily, but almost hourly attention. Soft- 

 wooded stove-plants require a bottom tempera- 

 ture of from 70° to 80°. Greenhouse soft- 

 wooded plants, on the other hand, require it in 

 a less degree, say from 50° to 60°, particularly 

 until the callus is formed, after which, and when 

 the roots are growing, it may be increased 10° 

 more. Some of these, however, should have no 

 extra bottom-heat beyond that of the tempera- 

 ture of the house or pit they are placed in until 

 their callosity is formed, after which an increase 

 as above will stimulate both the roots and young 

 shoots. No leaves should be cut off or reduced 

 in size unless they are numerous and large, and 

 even this can only be sanctioned to the extent 

 of preventing a greater degree of evaporation 

 taking place in them than can be supplied 

 by the cutting or the humidity which surrounds 

 it ; and shading should only be resorted to with 

 a view to secure the same end. Too close an 

 atmosphere, accompanied with the necessary 

 moisture around soft- wooded cuttings, tends 

 greatly to destroy them, by causing them to 

 damp off ; and this is more to be guarded against 

 when they are closely covered with bell or hand 

 glasses than when grown in a properly-con- 

 structed close pit, where the glass roof can be 

 slightly obscured or covered with thin canvass, 

 thus modifying both the amount of light and 

 air. All soft-wooded plants are readily increased 

 by cuttings, if the above conditions be com- 

 plied with. As soon as the cuttings begin to 

 grow, more air and light should be admitted to 

 them ; and such as begin to push up weakly 

 shoots should be topped, and, when fairly rooted, 



transplanted from sand into small pots in their 

 proper soil. 



The hard-wooded plants that strike best from 

 young shoots or tops are Erica, Epacris, Chinese 

 azaleas, Perium, Chironia, the majority of Aus- 

 tralian plants, Cytisus, *Begonia, Boronia, Bur- 

 chellia, Calothamnus, Calycanthus, Ceanothus, 

 Chamsecistus, Cistus, Chimona^thus, Helichry- 

 sum, Astelma, *citron, clethra, clianthus, colle- 

 tia, *combretum, coronilla, corrsea, cotoneaster, 

 *croton, daphne, deutzia, diosma, adenandria, 

 dracophyllum, *echites, Edwardsia, elteagnus, 

 empetrum, enkianthus, ephedra, escallonia, 

 fontanesia, *Franciscea, *gardenia, gardoquia, 

 gnidia, gravellia, Hudsonia, hyssopus, Ilex, Illi- 

 cium, *Ixora, *Jatropha, Lambertia, Laurus, 

 Lechenaultia, Ledum, Luculia, Medicago, Metro- 

 sideros, *Murraya, Myrtus, Phylica, Pimelea, 

 Plumbago, Poly gala, Psoralea, *Quisqualis, Solea, 

 Weigelia, &c. 



These, with the exception of those marked *, 

 will strike, if placed in a moderate bottom-heat, 

 say of 55° to 60°, until the callus is formed, 

 when it may be increased to 65° or 70°. Those 

 marked * will require from the first a bottom 

 temperature of from 70° to 85°, accompanied by 

 the conditions stated above. 



Many plants, however, are difficult to strike 

 by cuttings by any of these means ; other 

 modes are therefore resorted to, as in the case 

 of the orange and lemon, the cuttings of which 

 should be cut off under a bud, and their base 

 made to rest on the bottom of the pot, without 

 the intervention of any soil whatever — " the 

 object of which seems," as observed by Dr Lind- 

 ley, "to be to place the absorbent or root end 

 of the cutting in a situation where, while it is 

 completely drained of water, it may, neverthe- 

 less, be in the vicinity of a never-failing supply 

 of aqueous vapour. If it were surrounded by 

 earth, water would readily collect about it in a 

 condensed state, and the vessels being all open 

 in consequence of being cut through, would rise 

 at once into the interior ; but the application of 

 the root end immediately to the earthen bottom 

 of the pot, with which it is so cut as to be 

 nearly parallel, necessarily prevents any such 

 accumulation and introduction of water, unless 

 over- watering is allowed." In following out this 

 principle, the intelligent reader will naturally 

 discover that shallow pots or pans are better 

 for the purpose than those that are of the usual 

 depth, unless they be only half filled with soil, 

 so that the base of the cutting may touch the 

 bottom without being of too great a length, 

 which would disfigure, in many cases, the future 

 plant. By only half-filling the pot, the sides 

 above the sand or soil afford a partial shade; 

 and where bell-glasses are not at hand, a piece 

 of glass may be laid over the mouth of the pot 

 as a very good substitute. 



Mr Alexander Forsyth, one of our most in- 

 telligent gardeners, many years ago published 

 in " The Gardeners' Magazine" (vol. ii. p. 564) 

 an improvement on this mode. Fig. 123 

 will show his principle. A 48-sized pot was 

 rendered water-tight at the bottom, by press- 

 ing a handful of clay, a, over the drainage 

 holes, above which he placed broken crocks, b, 



