EXOTIC FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 195 



the leading shoots, which make the handsomest 

 plants (if not too rampant and succulent for the 

 purpose), or from the lateral shoots, which are 

 often best fitted by moderate growth for striking. 

 These last, too, make more bushy heads, and 

 flower sooner than free-growing cuttings taken 

 from more vigorous parts of a plant. The tops 

 of the shoots should be chosen, if sufficiently 

 ripened; but a well chosen part of the middle 

 may succeed equally well. Prepare them by 

 cutting the lower end transversely, close below a 

 joint, if it be a jointed stemmed plant, or just 

 below the insertion of a leaf, if otherwise ; trim- 

 ming off the lower leaves close, but leaving those 

 at. the top. The cutting should not be long \ 

 two inches is enough of any hard-wooded plant. 

 The same kind should be put in the same pot; 

 open forties are a convenient size. When filled, 

 the soil should be pressed in pretty tight, and the 

 cuttings inserted nearly an inch deep with a 

 &mall pointed dibber, by which the earth is 

 pressed close to the bottom of the cutting. When 

 the pot is filled, level and press the surface smooth^ 



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