330 
PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
days, in order to retain the steam, which is 
very essential in supporting the cuttings until 
they strike root. The frame is also shaded 
for some time during four or five hours in 
the middle of the day. Care is also taken 
that the heat is not so intense at the bottom 
of the pots as to burn the cuttings. In about 
a week the cuttings, if properly managed, will 
have struck root ; this will be shown by their 
shoots pushing. 
The first crop of melons having been 
gathered from the old plants, I take out the 
soil in which they have grown, and replace it 
with some new, to the depth of twelve inches. 
The beds are also at the same time lined 
with fresh dung. In about ten days from 
the time of inserting the cuttings, they will 
be ready to plant out ; and having prepared 
the original beds as here described, I turn 
out one pot of cuttings entire, under each 
small three-light frame, and to each large 
three-light frame I allot two pots, one to 
each end light. When the plants have pushed 
about fourteen inches, I pinch off the end of 
each shoot, to cause them to produce fresh 
runners. The fruit which had shown pre- 
viously to the cuttings being taken from the 
old plants will, after the cuttings are finally 
planted out, swell very rapidly, and in three 
weeks after the bed has been replanted, I 
have cut abundance of fine fruit, some weigh- 
ing seven or eight pounds each, varying in 
this according to the kind. The plants also 
yield abundantly, being much more produc- 
tive and healthy than if they were old plants 
cut in, in the usual manner. I have 
uniformly gathered of the second crop from 
twelve to twenty fruit in each light. 
A considerable advantage belonging to .this 
plan is, that the plants never run to length, 
they need no more stopping than already 
described, nor do they require any thinning 
of the shoots. I have also to observe, that it 
often happens in melon plants, not raised 
from cuttings, that the stems near the roots 
will crack, and when water is poured upon 
such places it causes the plants to perish ; 
but this is never the case with those raised 
as above described. 
Growing Plants in Moss. — The practice 
of growing plants in moss, though not now a 
novelty, is not without interest. We there- 
fore introduce the following abstract of a paper 
published in the Horticultural Society's Trans- 
actions treating on this subject : it was written 
by Mr. Street, a gardener in East Lothian: — 
"The Mosses I use are the several species of 
Hypnum, such as H. Schreberi, squarrosum, 
purum, &c. ; these I collect in woods from 
under the bushes, taking up with them the 
decaying stalks and leaves which are found 
amongst them. Sometimes I add about an 
inch of the surface of the vegetable mould 
which is under the mosses, to mix with them 
in the pots. The mosses so collected are 
pressed closely into the pots, and the plants 
are put into them as if into mould. For some 
plants I find it useful to add a little loam to 
the mosses, in other cases sharp sand, which 
is sometimes preferable to the loam. If the 
plants require manure I give it in a liquid 
state. As the mosses decay the mass gets 
closer together, and I then fill up the top of 
the pot with fresh material ; but if the roots 
are much at the lower part of the pot, I pre- 
fer making the addition at the bottom. The 
plants which I have cultivated in mosses are 
many ; the following amongst others : — 
Canna indica and patens, Calla sethiopica, 
Agapanthus umbellatus, Hydrangea hortensis, 
Disandra prostrata, Justicia nervosa, Gor- 
teria rigens, Pelargoniums, Cinerarias, &c. 
Some plants do better, and flower earlier and 
more vigorously, in mosses than in mould, 
such as Eucomis striata, Eucomis punctata, 
&c. The roots of whatever things are put 
into the mosses spread and increase sur- 
prisingly, especially such as require to be 
kept wet, for the mosses retain moisture 
longer and more uniformly than mould. Pots 
of ornamental plants which are to be placed in 
the apartments of a house, have great advan- 
tages when filled with mosses, for independent 
of the facility with which they are moved, 
they make no dirt or litter on the floor, which 
often occurs when the pots are filled with mould. 
In sending plants to a distance, those which are 
rooted in mosses travel admirably, they turn 
well out of the pots, and the roots are so 
mixed with the mosses that they do not sepa- 
rate from them as they would from mould ; 
and besides this safety to the plants, the mosses 
are so light that the package is conveyed with 
great comparative ease. I have succeeded in 
striking cuttings of many plants in mosses, 
such as Aucuba japonica, Hibiscus Rosa- 
sinensis, Buddlea globosa, &c, and those 
make roots very freely and much faster than 
they do in mould. I believe the plan might 
be generally adopted in propagation by cut- 
tings. Some bulbs, I do not doubt, will do 
well in mosses ; I have tried the yellow 
crocus, and found it to succeed perfectly, 
and to flower most freely when so treated. 
With hyacinths I have not yet succeeded ; 
the varieties of polyanthus narcissus, such as 
Grand Primo and Bazelman major, blossom 
well when grown with a portion of mosses in 
the pots. Some species of Cape gladioli also 
succeed well." 
[We have bloomed hyacinths with great 
success in moss, and in much shallower vases 
and pots than we generally use for earth or 
water : of course the supply of moisture must 
