ON PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 



259 



left to ooze slowly through the porous sides of the pot, as shown in fig. 170, 

 in which a, d, is a No. 60 pot, with the bottom 

 closed up with clay, put into one of larger 

 size ; &, the drainage in the larger pot ; c, the 

 sand or soil in which the cuttings are inserted; 

 and (/, the water in the inner pot, which is 

 prevented from escaping through its bottom 

 by the clay stopping at a. Mr. Forsyth, the 

 inventor of this mode of striking cuttings, 

 proposes it to be used with hardy plants, such 

 as pinks and waU-flowers, under hand-glasses 

 or frames, in the open air, as weU as for all 

 manner of house-plants. The advantages, 

 he says, are the regularity of the supply of 

 moisture, without any chance of saturation ; 



170: 



Forsyth's mode of striking 

 cuttings. 



the power of examining the state of the cuttings at any time without 

 injuring them, by lifting out the inner pot; the superior drainage, so 

 essential in propagating, by having such a thin layer of soil ; the roots 

 being placed so near the sides of both pots ; and the facility with which 

 the plants, when rooted, can be parted for potting olF, by taking out the iimer 

 pot, and with a knife cutting out every plant with its ball, without the 

 awkward but often necessary process of turning the pot upside down to get out 

 the cuttings. A common mode of supplying water, when the bell-glass is 

 placed within the rim of the pot, is to pour on the water between the glass 

 and the rim. However, where there is a sufficiency of heat, and the pots are 

 properly drained, no harm results from watering over the tops of the cuttings, 

 as the heat soon evaporates the water that falls over the leaves. No water 

 but rain-water should ever be used, either for seeds or young cuttings. 

 591. The temperature most suitable for cuttings may reasonably be 



expected to be that which 

 is most suitable for the 

 parent plants, when in 

 the same state as to growth 

 as the cutting. Hence, 

 for aU hardy plants the 

 temperature of the open 

 air will generally be found 

 sufficient, though when 

 they begin to grow a some- 

 what higher temperature 

 than what is natural to 

 them will be advantage- 

 ous. This, however, will 

 be of no use, but rather 

 injurious, when cuttings 

 are planted without leaves, 

 or when evergreens with 

 ripened wood are put in ; 

 for a certain time is re- 

 quired for every cutting 

 a general rule for the tern- 



Fig. 171. A cutting of Rosa semperjlorens prepared a7id planted. 



to accommodate itself to its new situation. As 



