HINTS ON THE COMMON GARDEN BALSAM. 
229 
better. A method of propagating balsams from cuttings is given by G. J. Towers, 
Esq., in the first volume of the Horticultural Register, page 397, as follows : — 
" In the month of April I received a packet of seeds of the balsam from a friend, 
whose son had produced them in the preceding year, at Madras, and forwarded to 
his father. The seeds were to all appearance most perfect in their texture, and 
state of maturation ; and, I believe, that of all I sowed scarcely one failed to produce 
a lively and healthy plant. I sowed the seeds in a pot of light sandy earth ; I 
plunged this pot in the earth of a melonry, which was a glazed pit^ containing a bed 
of leaves, chiefly oak and beech. The pit was constructed, on three of its sides, of 
nine inch brick work ; the fourth, that to the south-west, having a glazed sloping 
light. The bottom heat of the leaves, at the depth of twelve inches might be 
about eighty degrees ; but as a stratum of melon earth, full fourteen inches thick, 
was placed on the leaves, the heat at the bottom of the pot scarcely exceeded 
sixty-four degrees. 
" The young plants rose, were potted out, repotted, kept near the glass, and 
finally kept in the open air, according to the customary routine ; still, however^ they 
evinced (with one exception only) not the slightest indication of producing blossom, 
although some had attained the height of three feet or more. At the close of the 
month of August I became impatient, and as I felt interested in the final result of 
my exertions, I determined to try how far I might be successful in an endeavour to 
extend the period of the growth of my plants into a second year, by attempting to 
propagate them by cuttings. My direct object was, as it is stated, to convert one 
of the members of the plant into a perfect vegetable body, possessed of roots and 
capable, under auspicious circumstances, of exerting its various vital functions 
throughout the winter ; and finally, as I hoped, of producing perfect flowers and 
seeds in the ensuing spring. On referring to my diary I find, that on the 28th of 
August, 1831, one cutting was placed under a glass, such as a tumbler or small bell- 
glass. This cutting was about three inches long ; it was taken off at the axilla of 
a leaf, that is, at the angle formed between the foot-stalk of the leaf and the main, 
or other principal stem of the plant. The soil in the pot M'as composed of very 
light sandy loam and peat earth, and the pot was immersed in the mould of the 
melonry. This cutting evinced certain signs of the formation of perfect roots, on 
the 12th of September, and on the 18th four other cuttings were placed in a similar 
situation ; all of them succeeded, and each became covered with blossoms, though 
it was scarcely four inches in height. On the 12th of October the cutting of 
August 28th was eleven inches high ; the stem was somewhat slender, and drawn 
up, owing to the absence of sunlight, but it was furnished with nine perfect semi- 
double flowers, the ground colour of which was a pale French white, and this was 
beautifully striped with a deep pinkish scarlet. When I witnessed the unexpected 
result of my experiment, I communicated it in a paper addressed to the Horticul- 
tural Society, without delay. 
" It remains only to remark, that balsams may be forced into flower at the close 
of the autumn ; that the cuttings of the young shoots at the axilla, or angles of the 
leaves, of the length of two, three, or four inches, will almost invariably produce 
rooted, flowering plants, provided they be placed singly, an inch deep, in small pots 
