ADVANTAGES OF REMOVING DECAYING FLOWERS. 
107 
projecting piece of the tongue at the joint or a very little below it, as in preparing 
a cutting. In general, the earth about the wounded part ought to be light, finely- 
sifted, and sandy ; the layer should be covered over at the bend, but not deeply, 
and retained in its place by a peg or hooked stick applied between the wound and 
the parent; a moderately moist condition of the earth should also be kept up by 
occasional gentle watering, if the weather be dry. 
Our ignorance of the vitality or vital principle of plants claims the utmost 
caution, and we are jealous of all attempts to explain causes ; of effects we are 
certain. "We observe a certain progress ; and thus, as in the experiments of cuttings 
in water, a ring of white matter gradually forms and protrudes between the bark and 
sapwood of exogenous shrubs and herbs which have fibrous roots ; while in others 
which form bulbs or knobs, no such ring is apparent. The same phenomena pre- 
cede radification in the wounded joint of a layer, but of what the developing power 
is we are ignorant ; that it is electrical may be suspected, but at present we possess 
no means of affording positive proof ; and therefore all we have to do is to observe, 
take notes of all that we can trace, compare facts and anomalies, and admire. 
Mr. Marcet (Veg. Phys., p. 222) observes : fi It is the cambium, which in 
its retrograde course through the liber, and partly through the alburnum, nourishes 
the germs (which exist in almost every part of a plant). If therefore you propose 
to develop them in any particular part of a plant, you must accumulate the 
cambium in that spot. This may be done in several ways. In the first place you 
make an annular incision in the bark or rind, and by thus impelling the descent of 
the cambium, accumulate it in the upper section, where it will produce a swelling 
or protuberance of the bark. The germs situated in the neighbourhood of this rich 
deposite of food, if in other respects favourably circumstanced, are brought out ; 
that is to say, if the annular incision be exposed to light and air, the germs of 
branches will shoot; if below ground those of roots will strike into the soil. 
Indeed, any casual interference with the descent of the cambium is almost imme- 
diately followed by the sprouting of a bud." 
These remarks are ingenious, and at all events they evince the author's belief 
in the existence of germs or systems of life, which lie masked or concealed till called 
into vital activity by some peculiar stimulus. 
ADVANTAGES OF REMOVING DECAYING FLOWERS. 
In the application of floricultural art, there are certain operations which are of 
comparatively modern origin, or to the appreciation of which former cultivators have 
been very inadequately alive, and which, though seemingly of little moment, would, 
were their importance rightly understood, be allowed to possess a powerful 
influence in bringing about a better state of things. And while we observe that ten, 
