PROPAGATION OF FLOWER-GARDEN PLANTS. 
161 
ibject to circumstances, be chosen when they will most easily root, should be suffi- 
ently soon to enable the cuttings to form good substantial plants. Imagining they 
•e to be selected from the beds of the flower-garden, the time when the best may be 
xd, and when they can best be spared, is a period of five or six weeks from the 
me of the appearance of this in print. It is not asserted the kind of cuttings best 
» be chosen can then alone be found, but it is insisted upon, then is the proper and 
3 st time to choose them for our purpose, more because there is a considerable period 
jquired to enable the plants to become established and hardened against the winter 
ian for any other reason. The kind of cuttings to be selected are such as embodies 
i t hin the least compass the greatest amount of living principle ; shoots as nearly 
bsembling young plants raised from seed as can be found: abundance of this 
escription are, at the season in question, to be met with, rising as suckers from the 
use and shooting from old stems of plants turned out. Why such are best to be 
ken is obvious enough ; as they are, it may be said, from the heart of the plant : 
ley possess a greater share of its energy and strength than other shoots, therefore 
•e they better able to endure the dreary winter ; and in employing them there is 
le additional advantage, that, under any circumstances, they are the readiest to 
nit roots. The modern method of choosing those shoots of plants least succulent, 
id which are most likely to possess the germs of inflorescence, except in certain 
stances, is of no utility if carried out in selecting those of the plants in 
restion. 
The circumstances under which plants, when they are raised, are to be preserved 
lrough the winter affect the way in which they are struck, though it does not 
iterfere with the time when the cuttings are taken, or render it less necessary to 
itain good plants. If they can be accommodated in the most favourable manner, 
lat is, allowed all the room they require, in the most suitable situation, there is 
idling more required after they are rooted than to pot them, ready for turning out 
ben the period arrives. But, if in the other extreme, so little accommodation can 
|3 afforded for them, that their preservation and welfare, as compared with other 
lants, becomes of secondary importance, the manner in which they are placed to 
>ot is of different consequence. Having seen the proper time to choose cuttings, 
id the proper kind of cuttings to choose, the manner of inducing them to become 
[ants next presents itself for consideration : this should always be done in that way 
hich least excites and exhausts the living principle of the cutting. It is an over-sight, 
id “ killing by kindness ” principle to place the cuttings in too warm a place to root, 
be effect upon them invariably is, a quick emission of roots, and also a rank and 
diausting growth, with no part of their organisation maturing as it increases ; hence 
ie plants so raised are, in the first place, in tenfold degree more difficult to preserve 
d winter, from their weakness and consequent liability to be destroyed by cold and 
imp ; whereas, if struck in a proper temperature, where they can be induced to 
rm roots and mature without becoming exhausted by immature and unprofitable 
3velopment, they are infinitely more valuable, both as regards their capability to 
VOL. XTIT. NO. CLI. 
Y 
