1010 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER* 



[Mar. 



below the circles, and the cutting should be planted so as to 

 have the callous covered with mould. 



The situation and position of cuttings, when placed in the 

 pots, form no unimportant part of the process of propagating. 

 By this means many kinds of cuttings will strike roots, when 

 planted so close to the edge of the pot as to come completely 

 in contact with it, that would not succeed if planted ever so 

 carefully towards the middle of the pot ; and others, when 

 planted in the earth, will seldom, if ever, throw out any roots, 

 but will most readily, if so planted that their base or lower end 

 touch the bottom of the pot. This has been exemplified by 



correspondent in the Ilort. Soc. Transactions, in the case 

 of eleven cuttings of oranges out of thirteen, which he rooted 

 by this method, and afterwards by placing them in a moist 

 heat. Some cuttings will root freely, when so placed, in a 

 pot of sand, that either their sides touch the sides of the pot 

 for their whole length, or their lower end come in contact with 

 the broken potsherds or pebbles with which it is drained. 



A friend of ours has succeeded in striking pots full Ericas 

 by selecting the bottom of a flower-pot, and so placing it within 

 the pot for the cuttings, that the lower ends of all the cuttings 

 touched the buried part of the pot, the cuttings being planted 

 in pure sand. 



PROPAGATING BY SEEDS. 



This is the mode pointed out to us by Nature ; but as many 

 of our finest and rarest plants do not even flower with us, 

 much less perfect their seeds, other methods have been had re- 

 course to. When seeds can be ripened with us, or when they can 

 be procured from abroad, it is the means of obtaining plants 

 in the greatest numbers, and the only method of obtaining 

 new or rare ones. On this head, Mr. Sweet observes : — 

 " Where seeds are received from abroad, some of them should 

 be sown immediately, whatever season it may be ; for some- 

 times seeds will grow when first received, which will not if 

 kept some months longer : but the general time of sowing 

 should be early in spring, that the plants may get strong be- 

 fore winter. A gentle hot-bed is best for bringing up most of 

 the tropical kinds, but some few will come up better on a 



