Mar.] GREEN-HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 1041 



shelf or on a flue of the hot-house. The sooner seedhngs are 

 potted off the better, as they do not miss their moving when 

 potted off very young." Seeds from temperate chmates, such 

 as New-Holland, and similar countries, such as the Cape of 

 Good Hope, &c., vegetate best in a cool temperature, rather 

 moist than dry; for which purpose, houses with a northern 

 exposure, or nearly so, are preferred. Most of these will ve- 

 getate freely in peat-earth, if finely sifted, and kept moderately 

 moist and shaded, but the time of their vegetation is very 

 uncertain ; some appearing in the course of a fortnight or three 

 weeks, others not in eighteen months, or even two years. 

 Many experiments have been tried to hasten their vegetation, 

 but none with very great success. Thick-shelled seeds, such 

 as Banksia, &c., have been scraped nearly to the quick with 

 a knife, and steeped in a chemical preparation with as little 

 success. Steeping in milk and water may soften the shells of 

 some seeds ; and if it do them no good, cannot do them any 

 possible injury. When seedling-plants appear above ground, 

 they should be regularly and carefully watered with a fine 

 rose watering-pot, but this operation should never be per- 

 formed when the sun is shining on them. 



PROPAGATION BV LAYERS. 



This is a mode of propagation to which recourse is had in 

 the case of such plants as do not freely strike root from cut- 

 tings, and it is best performed in spring, before the ascent of 

 the sap ; or, if not performed then, may be done with equal 

 advantage when the sap is fully up, so that, as far as regards 

 the plants under consideration, February and March, in the 

 former case, and June and July in the latter, are considered 

 the proper seasons. The processes of laying are various, 

 and applicable to most shrubbery plants and trees. Green- 

 house plants are generally layed either in the pot in which ihe 

 plant grows, or more frequently in others that are filled with 

 mould and brought close to it. In either case, the shoot in- 

 tended to form the future plant is bent down, and a portion 

 of it buried in the mould, in which position it is secured by 

 means of a hooked peg. Sometimes the part of the branch 



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