FAMILIAR LESSONS ON PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
41J 
very dry wea- 
ther, the drills in 
which seeds are 
to be sown should 
be well watered 
just before the 
time of sowing, 
the seeds being 
sown soon after, 
and the soil filled in while it continues damp. 
The watering of out-door plants in summer is 
generally best done in the evening, or towards 
evening. When it is necessary to apply 
much water for the support of any crop, it 
should be given at intervals of several days, 
the ground being saturated to a considerable 
depth, and not merely moistened on the sur- 
face. If a slight shower should fall, take 
advantage of the opportunity to apply the 
water at that time, as both the atmosphere 
and the plants are then naturally in a condi- 
tion to benefit to the utmost by the application; 
but if no such opportunity offers, then the 
water should be applied in the cool of the 
evening, so that it may not be too rapidly 
evaporated. If a basin is not opened around 
the stems, and the surface-soil is at all run 
together by the operation of watering, it 
should be broken up next day with a hoe. A 
close, compact surface favours evaporation, 
and consequently soon renders the soil dry ; 
whilst a loose surface has a contrary tendency. 
ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION. 
The natural way of propagating plants is 
by means of seeds. It is, however, sometimes 
necessary to know how to increase plants by 
other means, such as by cuttings, by layers, by 
division, by grafting, and by budding. 
Cuttings. — The principles upon which the 
simpler forms of propagation are based, are 
few. The cuttings should be selected from 
such shoots or branches as have not borne 
flowers, or at least the flowering part of the 
shoots should be rejected. There is considerable 
difference in the choice of cuttings from different 
plants. Thus, for example, a cutting of a 
gooseberry bush or of a rose should be taken 
from the half-ripened young shoot (a), or from 
the same shoots when they have reached matu- 
rity and have shed their leaves (d); this should 
be cut from four or six to eight or ten inches 
long, the upper end being cut close above a 
bud, and the three upper buds being preserved, 
while all the rest are cut clean away, and the 
lower end of the cutting cut across, close below 
the point where the lowest bud grew. Other 
shrubby plants may be treated in a precisely 
similar way. The geranium, and a variety of 
other soft-stemmed plants, are usually propa- 
gated from the parts removed in cutting down 
the plants after their blooms are past, the upper 
portion of which consists of the flower-stalks, 
and the lower part of the main stem with more 
or less of the leaves and some young lateral 
shoots ; these latter parts serve for cuttings, 
the stem being cut through, just above a leaf, 
to form the top of the cutting, and just beneath 
another leaf, three or four inches from the 
upper one, to form the bottom, one or two of 
the lowest leaves only being removed (&). Any 
young side shoots of half shrubby plants form 
good cuttings, when cut off at from two to 
four inches long, according to their habit, — 
one or two of the lower leaves removed, and 
the stem cut clean through, close below the 
lowest bud or joint (c). The same kind of 
shoots form good cuttings in such herbs as 
are increased by this process ; as, for instance, 
pansies and pinks ; and are to be prepared 
similarly. 
The preparation of cuttings should be per- 
formed with a sharp, keen-edged knife, so as 
to make a clean and not a ragged cut; in some 
cases this is highly essential, though not in all; 
Whenever a cutting, with leaves on, is being 
prepared for planting, as many of the upper 
leaves are to be retained uninjured as possible; 
in fact, only just so many — sometimes only one 
or two — are to be removed from the lower 
end as will admit of fixing this end of the 
cutting firmly into the soil. Sandy soil is 
favourable for all cuttings, and the degree of 
sandiness should be determined by the free- 
dom or otherwise with which roots are pro- 
duced ; the more delicate and difficult-rooting 
plants being inserted either entirely in sand, 
or in soil very largely mixed with sand. The 
soil should be moderately moist, and pressed 
down firm and close; and the cuttings inserted 
by means of small dibbles, just large enough 
to make a hole slightly larger than the base 
of the cutting; the dibble should be inserted 
just so deep that the base of the cutting may 
rest on the bottom of the hole made by it, and 
the sides are then to be pressed in close about 
the cutting with the end of the dibble, so as 
to firmly fix it in the soil. When all are 
planted, they should be gently sprinkled with 
water, to settle the soil about them ; and after 
