214 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
appear of their nutrient matter being more condensed. 
The period between sowing and germinating is 
very different according to species. Mustard, for ex¬ 
ample, will germinate in one day, or less if stimulated 
with chlorine; cress in two days; turnips in three 
days, lettuce in four days ; parsley in about six weeks 
or two months ; the peach in one year ; and the 
rose and filbert in two years. 
It has been proved by experiment that seeds ga¬ 
thered before they are quite ripe, germinate sooner 
than very ripe ones, obviously because the nutrient 
matter is less hard and more easily diluted with wa¬ 
ter; and on the same principle, I have proved by ex¬ 
periment, that potatoes, when saved green for plant¬ 
ing and kept in bran, will come several weeks earlier 
than others. It would be worth trying the roots of the 
dahlia and marvel of Peru on the same principle. 
Though seeds, when gathered before they are quite 
ripe, germinate sooner, it does not follow that they 
will produce the best plants. 
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF TRANSPLANTING. 
The removing of growing plants from one part of 
the garden to another is done for various reasons, 
and the science of transplanting will consequently de¬ 
pend on the intention of the gardener in the opera¬ 
tion. The principal facts to be recollected are, that 
every plant takes its food by the tips of the root fi¬ 
bres, and that the sap thence carried up into the leaves 
has much of its w r ater and oxygen carried off by ex¬ 
posure to light, particularly to sunshine. It follows 
that if part or all of the tips of the root fibres be broken 
off or bruised, the plant will be kept hungry or starv¬ 
ed, just as an animal would be with its mouth much 
injured or blocked up ; while if a plant in such a state 
is placed in the sunshine, the water and oxygen car¬ 
ried off thereby will very soon cause it to flag, wither, 
and die. 
TRANSPORTING. 
If the gardener’s object then be simply to move 
plants from one place to another without affecting 
their growth in any way, it will be important to pre¬ 
serve every root fibre entire; and even, when this 
can be done, to l ake it up with part of the soil in which 
it has been growing, or with a large ball of earth, as 
it is termed. When this cannot be done, the root 
fibres ought to be placed in their new station as near¬ 
ly as possible in the manner they were at first, and 
hence dibbling, where the soil is at all stiff; will be 
bad practice, from its being certain to confine and 
crush the root fibres within the walls of the dibbled 
hole. 
It is partly upon the principles here laid down, that 
Sir Henry Steuart, of Allanton, has succeeded in re¬ 
moving the largest trees without heading down the 
branches, as was wont to be practised. 
If it be found impossible to preserve the root fibres 
from injury, or to replant them exactly as they were, 
then, in order to diminish the loss of water and oxy¬ 
gen, the plants ought to be shaded from the light, or 
if that cannot be done, they ought to have a suitable 
proportion of their leaves or branches cut off. He 
Candolle says this practice was wont to be so univer¬ 
sal on the continent, that the gardener’s maxim was, 
“ if you plant your own father, you must cut off his 
head.” Sir Henry Steuart has proved the bad sci¬ 
ence of such universal barbarity. 
Without taking up the soil in an undisturbed state, 
it is difficult to transport, uninjured, plants having few 
root fibres and large leaves, such as the poppy, be¬ 
cause the few spongelets of the fibres which supply 
the sap are apt to be obstructed in a new soil even 
when free from injury. 
PRICKING OUT SEEDLINGS. 
The object in what is termed pricking out seedlings, 
is different from simple transportation. In the case 
of early lettuce, for example, or early annuals, such 
as balsams and coreopses,* it arises from the neces¬ 
sity of sowing the seed under the influence of artifici- 
cial heat, in order to get plants of some size sooner 
than they could be had by sowing in the open air. 
The lettuces cannot be improved and are almost 
certain to be injured by the operation, in consequence 
of their small number of root fibres (not quite,so few 
as in the poppy) and the largeness of their leaves. 
Accordingly, lettuces, when pricked out under the most 
favorable circumstances of moist cloudy weather, al¬ 
ways flag more or less, and hence the leaves are apt 
to be checked in their growth so as to be Jess juicy, 
their juiciness depending on the most rapid and un¬ 
checked growth that can be effected. Rich soil, how¬ 
ever, and plentiful watering, may overcome the check 
in the growth from pricking out. 
In the case of the balsams and the coreopses, the 
check in growth from pricking out is advantageous, 
because the leaf pulp becoming much thickened by 
the great loss of water and oxygen, when it returns 
to the stem and to the life knot or crown of the root, 
it lays the basis of fresh branches terminating in flow¬ 
er buds. Whereas were a seedling plant to remain 
* It is correct to say “ one Coreopsis” and “ two Coreop¬ 
ses.” 
unmoved in a rich soil well watered, it would proba¬ 
bly send up more sap than the light could readily de¬ 
prive of its water and oxygen, and thence would push 
out new leaves to carry off the superabundance, while 
there would be no pulp formed thick enough and 
containing enough of carbon to produce flowers. 
It is important not to plant the roots too deep, so 
as to be out of the reach of air, or too shallow to 
expose them to drought. By a natural proces an ash 
will send its roots across a deep ditch, keeping al¬ 
ways under the soil about six or ten inches and rising 
again on the other side. In a dry season, the roots 
of trees will dip down in search of moisture into a 
bad under soil. 
For the same reason, either kidney or broad beans 
if taken up and transplanted when only a few inches 
high, will have their growth checked, and will flower 
and fruit sooner, though they will not grow so tall, as 
those which have not been transplanted. It is on the 
same principles advantageous to transplant brocoli, 
Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, which will make 
them head more readily, though care must be taken 
that the growth is not so much checked as to render 
the heads small and their stalks tough. Trees are, 
in their youngest state, frequently transplanted by 
nurserymen to increase their root fibres. 
It may with this view also be advisable, in some 
instances to trim off some of the root fibres to dimi¬ 
nish the supply of sap, and cause new root fibres to 
grow; a thing which ought never to be done where 
luxuriance of leaves is an objeet, and hence the old 
practice of trimming both the root fibres and the 
branches or leaves at the same time, is in the most 
cases highly absurd. 
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF STRIKING. 
By certain experiments, not by any means praise¬ 
worthy, yet, beyond all question, correct, it has been 
proved that, if the head of a snail, or of an earth worm, 
be cut off, the bod} will not only live for a considera¬ 
ble time, but a new head will be reproduced, with a 
mouth capable of taking food. By similar experi¬ 
ments it has been found that the legs of spiders and 
the feet of frogs, when cut off, are reproduced. 
Upon a similar principle, when the roots of certain 
plants which are to them what the head is to animals, 
are cut off, newroots may, under peculiar circumstan¬ 
ces, be reproduced. The chief condition required for 
the reproduction of such roots, is the preservation of 
their life till the roots have time to form, and various 
expedients are resorted to with this view, as well as 
for the quick production of the roots. 
CHINESE MODE OF STRIKING. 
The simplest mode of striking is that practised by 
the Chinese, and which I have tried successfully with 
the lilac. Lord Macartney was surprised to find in 
the Emperor of China’s hall of audience a number of 
dwarf pines, oak, and orange trees bearing fruit, in 
frames filled with earth, and placed on tables. These 
are produced by selecting a fruit-bearing bough, with 
a good branchy head, and taking off from the stem a 
ring of bark about an inch in length. Around this is 
placed a ball of rich earth, tied on with bass or coarse 
cloth, and the whole is kept moist by means of a ves¬ 
sel of water hung over it with a very small hole, or a 
thread to convey the water drop by drop. The de¬ 
scending pulp being stopped short in its passage down¬ 
wards towards the root, first forms root buds, which 
soon send out roots into the moist earth, and when 
these are deemed strong enough to feed the plant, 
the branch is cut off a little below, and the tree in 
minature is ready for planting in a pot. 
The process has been varied by having garden pots 
made so as to enclose the ring branch, and in this 
way dwarf fruit-trees are often formed on the conti¬ 
nent, where they are much prized. 
STRIKING BY LAYERS. 
The common mode of striking by layers proceeds 
on the same principle. Some plants may be said to 
propagate themselves by layers, such as the straw¬ 
berry, which sends out runners that take root, and 
the ends of the common bramble sometimes take root 
in a similar way. A willow or a privet branch also, 
if accidentally bent down into the ground, will send 
out roots, and become a new tree, if separated from 
the parent. 
But in most instances, it is requisite so to interrupt 
the downward flow of the pulp, as to cause it to form 
root fibres, and hence, in practice, the branch intend¬ 
ed as a layer, is slit, tongued, or cut half through in a 
direction sloping upwards, or it is ringed, as in the 
Chinese mode, or it is pierced in several directions 
by a brad-awl, or it is wired or twisted ; all of which 
operations have the same design of checking the de¬ 
scent of the pulp, while the sap going up in the more 
central parts is not interrupted, and consequently the 
layered branch grows as well as, if not better than, 
if it had not been so treated. The soil ought not to 
be too damp, otherwise the cut part may canker. 
Towards the end of the autumn, layered plants are, 
for the most part, sufficiently furnished with new roots 
to feed them without farther dependence on the pa¬ 
rent plant; but they are in general still weaker than 
seedlings, and require to be not only watered, but the 
more tender sorts not exposed to too bright sunshine. 
STRIKING BY SLIPS, OR CUTTINGS. 
In the preceding modes of striking, the layer, being 
partly in communication with the parent plant, is in 
no danger of perishing for want of food ; but, in the 
case of cuttings, the circumstances are much the 
same as in the experiments alluded to, made up¬ 
on the snails and earth worms, inasmuch as they are 
deprived of their natural feeding organs, their root 
fibres. In the first instance, therefore, a cutting like 
the headless snail and earth worm, must live entirely 
on the nutrient materials it already possesses, which 
are, as we have seen, partly laid up in the cells of the 
stem, but more particularly in the buds. Hence it be¬ 
comes important to have a bud, or buds, on every cut¬ 
ting intended to be struck; but leaves, or at least ma¬ 
ny leaves, are disadvantageous, as tending to ex¬ 
haust life, by giving off too much water and oxygen. 
In the case of evergreens, however, in which the ac¬ 
tion of the leaves is so slow as not to produce ex¬ 
haustion, they must be left on, to assist in maturing 
the pulp for the new roots, hut no such leaves must 
remain below the surface of the soil, lest canker en¬ 
sue. 
The end of a cutting, to be planted in the soil, 
ought to contain a heel of older wood than the bole, 
or stem, and be cut very smooth, in order to prevent 
water from stagnating in any crevice or bruise, and 
thus tending to rot the part. The heel of older wood 
is to prevent too much water being taken up by the 
more active and more open vessels of the bole, which 
would render the whole dropsical and sickly. 
For the same reason, rich earth, very retentive of 
water, is bad for most cuttings ; and species difficult 
to strike require to be planted either in pure sand, or 
in a soil containing a large proportion of sand to 
drain off all superfluous water which ought to be sup¬ 
plied in small quantities, but frequently, so as to keep 
it in constant circulation. Hence, orange-trees can 
only be struck by a drain of broken potsherds in the 
bottom of the striking pots. This is one of the true 
scientific principles of striking cuttings. 
Another is founded on the effects of light upon 
leaves, or buds, which being furnished with only a 
scanty supply of food, cannot stand much loss of wa¬ 
ter and oxygen; and hence they are covered with a 
bell giass, both to modify the intensity of the light, 
(some light is indispensable,) and to render the in¬ 
cluded air moist, from the water given off in the form 
of vapor. Some fresh air, however, is as necessary 
as some light, in order to produce a healthy leaf pulp, 
and hence, the bell glasses must not be kept air tight. 
When bell glasses are not used, it is found that cut¬ 
tings succeed best in a border with a northern aspect, 
protected from the wind ; or, if otherwise situated, 
they require to be screened from the force of the noon¬ 
day sun. 
The same principles of supplying regularly a mode¬ 
rate portion of water, so as not to cause dropsy by 
overgorging, and of sheltering from too much dry air, 
and bright sunshine, so as not to cause exhaustion, 
regulates the striking of buds, or eyes, as ihey are 
termed, which always require a leaf attached, and 
even of leaves themselves, such as those of the cacti. 
SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF GRAFTING. 
When the finger is cut with a knife, the blood ves¬ 
sels soon _ after contract their cut extremities into an 
opening so narrow, that the thicker and red-coloured 
part of the blood cannot pass, and the bleeding there¬ 
fore ceases. But even then there oozes out the thin¬ 
ner watery part of the blood, consisting chiefly of mat¬ 
ter the same or similar to the white of an egg, which 
being thus separated from the rest of the- blood, thick¬ 
ens by the heat of the body, as the white of an egg does 
by boiling. If tne lips of the finger-cut accordingly 
be kept close together by sticking-plaster, they will 
become united by means of this natural glue, as it 
may be termed, in little more than a day. Upon the 
same principle, when I was a student of medicine, I 
once succeeded, as others have done, in managing 
to unite the whole tip-joint of a finger which a boy 
had chopped off by machinery ; and experiments have 
been successful in causing the spur of a cock to 
unite and to grow upon his comb. 
It is upon similar principles that the science of 
grafting is founded; for if a young branch, like the 
boy’s finger, be chopped off by a clean cut, and the 
cut extremities immediately joined, the decending 
pulp will thickenlike the watery part of the blood, and 
while it remains soft, the sap from the cut ends of the 
sap vessels will force its way through to their conti¬ 
nuation above in the cut slip, which, if the process be 
successfully managed, will grow as well, or nearly, as 
if had never been cut. 
If, again instead of applying the same cut slip to 
the part it was cut from, a slip from another tree be 
applied, as if I had applied to the boy’s finger the tip 
of another boy’s, chopped off by the same accident, 
there seems no good reason to doubt that a similar 
