pipings, a gentle hotbed may be used; but if this be 
not convenient, choose a rather cool situation, and lay 
thereon a rich light compost, three or four inches 
deep ; prepare it to receive a hand-glass, and give it 
a gentle watering, an hour at least before it be made 
use of. Then take a branch of the pink, and imme- 
diately below the second or third joint from the top, 
cut it off, and the piping will be readily disengaged 
from the bottom of the two leaves which form a 
sheath round it, leaving it clear as in the annexed 
cut. The leaves may be shortened, as represented, 
for convenience, otherwise in itself the operation is 
unimportant. Some cultivators slit the bottom of 
the piping, as shown in our figure, but the propriety 
of this practice is somewhat questionable; for the 
tender part of the piping is liable to be bruised, and 
we think the same advantage is not obtained in this, 
as in the common cuttings of other plants. Thus 
prepared, the pipings should be planted about half 
an inch deep, in the place prepared for them ; be 
gently watered, and when their tops are become dry, 
the hand-glass should be placed closely over them, 
to preclude, as much as possible, the admission of 
fresh air. Keep the soil moderately moist; remove 
the hand-glass for the space of ten minutes, daily, to 
give the pipings air, shading them during the re- 
moval, if exposed to the rays of the sun ; and at the 
same time turning the hand-glass bottom upwards, 
that its interior may be dried. When the pipings 
begin to grow, air should be admitted under one side 
of the glass, to inure them gradually to the atmos- 
phere, and shortly after this they will be fit for 
transplanting. 
Hort. Kew. 2, v. 3, 77. 
