2 fi 
JUANULLOA AURANTIACA. 
Its management, as before stated, is of the easiest description, 
and in a stove its blossoms may be reckoned on with certainty 
from autumn till the returning spring. Propagation is readily 
effected by cuttings taken off in May, when the seasonal growth 
is about two thirds matured, or at any time just previous to its 
entire completion. Such as are about three inches in length 
form the most convenient and likely pieces : these should be 
taken quite from their origin, with a small “heel,” as it is termed, 
or a portion of the bark of the parent stem. After removing 
about half the leaves from the lower part of the cutting, and 
squaring the base with a sharp knife, that no part may be bruised, 
the cuttings should be inserted for about an inch of their length 
into a pot of very sandy peat, having a layer of pure sand over 
the top of the mixture, and when all are placed so that each 
stands just clear of its fellow, the pot should be dipped into a 
vessel of water, so that the fluid may flow completely over the 
soil, and then, by suddenly withdrawing the pot, the water, in 
its passage downwards, draws the sand tightly round the stems 
of the cuttings. It may not be amiss to explain the use of this 
layer of sand over the soil in which the cuttings are to root, and 
the advantages of the peculiar mode of watering them just men¬ 
tioned. One of the first conditions to a successful “strike” 
among cuttings of almost every description is the complete ex¬ 
clusion of air from the recently severed parts, at the same time 
a constantly regular, but moderate, supply of moisture is re¬ 
quired, not that any appreciable quantity of this moisture is 
taken into the system of the cuttings, but its chief use is the 
prevention of evaporation through the leaves, by surrounding 
them with an aqueous atmosphere, or to meet the occasional de¬ 
mand which will sometimes unavoidably arise, and on this ac¬ 
count, and for the same end, glasses are used to cover the upper 
portion of the cuttings. Sand, from its texture or the closeness 
with which its particles lie to each other, offers the best medium 
through which water may be slowly conducted, without admitting 
any large quantity of air, and, as it is necessary to exclude the 
latter as far as possible, it has become a practice to thoroughly 
water the surface, in order to compress it round the cuttings in 
the closest manner; but, to apply the water in the usual way, by 
means of the syringe or water-pot, with the greatest care, neces- 
