154 



ON THE PROPAGATION OP FLOWERS. 



readily take place. This stratum is generally about half an inch beneath the 

 surface. 



When a cutting is separated from its mother plant, it loses its supply of 

 aqueous food, and immediately endeavours to generate new roots instead of those 

 which it has lost. It contains within itself a vital principle, which is exerted in 

 the production of both roots and shoots, provided it is placed in favourable 

 circumstances ; that is, where it is neither drenched and chilled by too much 

 moisture, or dried up and shrunk out of form by the want of a requisite share of 

 humidity. That a proper medium should be formed to suit the mutilated con- 

 dition of the cutting while making new roots, experience has proved, that pure 

 sand, commonly called silver sand, is the most suitable for the purpose ; it retains 

 no undue portion of moisture, nor admits too much air, especially when covered 

 by a hand-glass, within which the cuttings are planted. 



Pots (open thirty-twos) are well drained by gravel or cinders in the bottom, 

 and filled nearly to the top with compost, and covered with about an inch of the 

 said silver sand, all pressed pretty tightly down. The cuttings, after being pre- 

 pared, are inserted in the sand, and not too closely together, and immediately 

 watered to consolidate the whole. As soon as the surface and cuttings are dry, 

 the glasses are put on, and the pots are plunged either in a mild hot- bed, or in 

 some other suitable place. 



Some kinds of cuttings strike soonest when placed on a little bottom heat ; 

 others require nothing of the kind, but succeed in a cold shaded frame. 



When cuttings have fairly struck root, which will appear by their beginning 

 to put forth new leaves, they should be carefully raised and placed in small pots ; 

 because they will require richer soil than the sand in which their roots have been 

 formed. For the generality of exotic plants, whether stove or greenhouse, a 

 suitable compost is formed of one-third turfy loam, one -third heath mould, and 

 another third of pure white sand. This compost should be well mixed together, 

 but by no means sifted, or broken finer than can be done with the spade ; and in 

 potting, the greatest care should be taken to drain the pots by crops and nodules 

 of turf. 



The stronger-growing sorts of Australian and Cape plants, such as Bank- 

 sias, Proteas, and the like, may also be raised from cuttings, if the ripened 

 points of the shoots be chosen and taken off at a joint, planted in sand, and 

 covered with a striking-glass, which must be frequently wiped dry, the pots set, 

 but not plunged, in an airy place, lest the cuttings get damp, which would ruin 

 them. 



All plants having jointed stems, whether woody or herbaceous, are easily 

 increased by cuttings, the joints placed in soil readily emitting roots, and those 

 in the air as quickly producing shoots. 



There are a few plants which are stemless, which, if they cannot be divided, 

 may be increased by cuttings of the roots. Indeed, there are many exotics 



