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THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH PLANTS AEE PROPAGATED BY CUTTINGS. 
JS. iuxifolium. A dwarf evergreen, shiiib, mth small smooth broadly elliptic leaves, and white 
flowers, tinged with pale rose. New Holland. Introduced 1822. 
E. intermedium. A moderate sized evergreen shi-ub, with large oblong obovate leaves, rather 
glaucous, and having glandular dots, and large white flowers, somewhat tinged with pink. New 
Holland. Introduced smce 1840. 
E. myo^ioro'ides. A moderate sized evergreen shnib, with smooth lanceolate leaves, having glan- 
dular dots, and large flowers, white tinged with pink. New Holland. Introduced 1824. 
E. vaspidatuin. A strong-growing evergreen shrub, with large oblong lance-shaped glaucous leaves, 
ending in a hooked point, and pale pinkish or rose coloured flowers. New Holland. Introduced 1823. 
E. salicifolium. A strong growing evergreen shi'ub, ha'^'ing large linear lanceolate smooth leaves 
and pinkish flowers. New Holland. Introduced 1824. 
They all bloom dui'ing the spring and early summer months, from April to July or August ; and 
the flowers are, in all the species, more or less deeply tinged with pink or rose colom-, when developed 
in a low temperatm-e, and exposed to free air and light. They also generally open with more of the 
pinky tinge, than they retain as they approach the period of thefr decay. 
THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED BY CUTTINGS, 
By Mr. WILLIAM KEAJSTE, Auihok of " The Beauties op Subret," &c. 
fHE propagation of plants by cuttings is an operation of fr-equent use, and of considerable importance 
in all horticultui'al establishments. The many thousand plants that are annually propagated to em- 
bellish Flower-gardens and Pleasure grounds, and the taste displayed in the an-angement of colom-s, 
demand the greatest skill, vigilance, and forethought, to prepare, to arrange, and to provide for the 
display, that the pioneers of modern improvements, and of refined taste, have introduced into Flower- 
garden and Pleasure-groimd scenery. 
The conditions necessary for the propagation of plants by cuttings are, a certain portion of organized 
matter, the assistance of leaves, a degree of heat and moisture accordant with the nature of the plant, 
and fi-ee drainage at the roots. 
"When the aqueous or ascending sap reaches the leaves, the water is discharged thi-ough the 
minute invisible pores, called stomata, and by the decomposition of carbonic acid gas, which separates 
ts carbon, and sets the oxygen fr-ee, a vital action is 
performed, by which the sap is elaborated or changed 
into the organic matter, called the " true "or descending 
sap. It is then that all parts of the plant are supplied 
with a store of organized matter, which renders the 
parts fit to be employed as cuttings. "V\Tien removed 
fi'om the parent, that store, under proper management, 
wiU enable them to put forth roots and new leaves, and 
to develope all the parts requii-ed for the gi'owth of the 
plant. K the shoots are in a rapid state of growth, full 
of rising sap, their tissues lax and not matui-ed, failures 
may be expected to attend all attempts to propagate 
them by cuttings. 
The next part of the subject is to inquire in what manner the leaves retained on the cuttings assist 
the protrusion of roots, and the development of other leaves. 
As the removal of the cutting fi'om the parent branch will make no change in the nature of the 
sap, which is always more or less in cumulation in the whole system of the plant, and as it is the office 
of the cambium, or proper juice, to descend in the cutting to the joint at which it was cut; when its 
downward com-se is impeded, it accumiilates there until a callous is formed, and roots are protruded ; 
the organized matter of the cutting is diminished to supply the development of roots, and the leaves 
are required to secrete more, to replace that which was expended in the formation of roots. It is when 
there is sufficient organized matter in the cutting to supply the roots without exhausting its own vital 
energies, that the external assistance derived fr'om the leaves may not be needed. 
Heat and moisture are very usefrd agents in the propagation of cuttings. It is mmecessary to 
specify the various degrees of temperature that vaiious plants requii'e : but let the temperature or 
B, 
A. Stonmta of the Iris, a ff, Green cells bounding the 
orifice, h b. Cells of the parenchyma, c. Air-chamber. 
The same from above, a a, Cells of the stoma between 
the long cells of the cuticle, c. Opening between 
them. 
Stoma of apple-leaf, ff, Cells of ditto, h h, Cells of 
the cuticle, c. Opening of stoma. 
