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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and demand," it will not be found difficult to discover to what extent it 

 may be desirable to increase the absorbing surface in each case. 



It is hardly needful to remark that the leaf must be in full vigour, 

 and, if it show any signs of decay, must be instantly removed. Moreover, 

 the leaves are apt, apparently through endosmotic action, to be after a 

 time often coated with a kind of mucus, so that the water must be 

 changed more often than when stalks only are inserted. 



M. G. Weidenberg * believes that the reason of the frequent fading of 

 cuttings before they have struck root is to be accounted for by the fact 

 that, as a rule, the transpiration from the exposed leaves is greater than 

 the amount of water which the cut end can supply. He recommends, 

 therefore, that the cuttings should be longer than usual, and that some 

 of the leaves should be buried as well, so that about one-third of them 

 may remain above ground. Those leaves in the soil will thus undertake 

 the function of absorbing water. The ground (he adds) should be porous, 

 to allow of free access of air, so that the roots may be formed rapidly 

 before the leaves have time to decay. In this way roses, pinks, and 

 other cuttings, usually hard to strike, will make very good roots. 



* St. Petersburger Zeitung (Beiblatt), February 20, 1879. 



