314 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Oct. 
Striking Cuttings in the Spring. 
With the present system of planting 
flower beds, that is, with a large quanti¬ 
ty of green-house plants, or as they are 
more familiarly termed ‘‘bedding plants,’’ 
nothing is of so much importance as a good 
contrivance for increasing the quantity 
by cuttings during the early months of 
spring. 
To do this to any extent, and success¬ 
fully, requires the assistance of a consi¬ 
derable amount of artificial heat. For 
this purpose nothing surpasses dung heat. — 
To the gardener who has frames, pits, and- 
forcing houses at his command, this is no- 
difficulty. But to the amateur, to the 
“ thousand and one ” occupiers of subur¬ 
ban and small country residences, whose taste leads 
them to have their lawns around their dwellings laid out 
in borders and clumps, (and who does not,) it is a 
more difficult task to fill these pretty little spots with 
a share of the more choice products of congenial climes. 
Many plants, such as the Verbena, Petunia, Cuphea, 
Heliotrope, Fuchsias, &c., are quite as well, if not better, 
struck from cuttings in the spring ; all that is necessary 
being to take up a few plants of each sort in the fall, 
and preserve them in the windows and dry cellars of 
the dwelling ; and by this contrivance we can bring 
forward a quantity sufficient for planting a large 
space, which may be obtained at little cost and labor. 
All that is necessary, after the pit is built, being stable 
manure, which is mostly obtainable on the place. The 
accompanying sketch is a section of a one-light pit, be¬ 
ing five feet long, four feet wide, and four feet depth of 
dung. A, light; B B, bottom for the pots to rest on,— 
best if of slate or thin slab stone; if that is not obtain¬ 
able, of wood,—C, door, by means of which hot dung is 
put in or turned; D D, ground level. 
A little tan or other plunging material should be 
placed on the bottom of the slabs, up to the rim of the 
pots. It can of course be made with several lights, but 
for the purposes we have named this size will be found 
ample, as it will hold 100 four-inch pots, which, with 
the small compliment of twelve in each, will make 
twelve hundred plants, a far greater quantity than is 
actually required for the purpose. 
If about the middle or end of February the forcing is 
commenced by placing the old stored plants in the pit, 
in a short time cuttings may be taken off and struck, 
and this continued till a sufficient quantity is obtained, 
and according as they root, pottted off into small pots 
with tire assistance of a three-light pit or frame to 
harden them off. By planting time, three or four hun¬ 
dred healthy plants may be got, besides affording an 
excellent opportunity for breaking old Dahlia stools, 
and bringing forward a few of the more choice annuals 
as well as tomatoes, melons, cucumbers and squashes, 
which is of great importance in obtaining these luscious 
fruits and vegetables. Edgar Sanders. Albany, 
Aug. .28,. 1853. 
I presume it will be satisfactory to many, to be in¬ 
formed when the different species of garden plants may 
bo most advantageously transplanted. The months of 
August and September are preferable in this state, and 
in states to the north of it, for transplanting the follow¬ 
ing species ; and the months of September and October 
for the states adjoining them on the south as far as the 
line of the Potomac; and October and November for 
the more southern states : 
Straicberrics of all kinds, if planted as above stated, 
will produce a fair crop the ensuing summer. It is pre¬ 
ferable that the beds be three feet wide, and that four 
rows lengthwise be planted in the beds, the plants a 
foot apart each way. This width will admit of all the 
fruit being gathered from the sides without trampling 
on the beds, as is of necessity the case when the 
beds are of greater width. It need scarcely be stated 
that the ground should be previously well plowed or deep¬ 
ly dug and mellowed. A moist soil is preferable, and on 
no grounds will as heavy crops be produced as on drain¬ 
ed meadow land. The strawberry will, however, flour¬ 
ish on drier soils and produce fair crops. The same peri¬ 
ods are suitable for transplanting the fine large varie¬ 
ties of Rhubarb for tarts, the Sea Kale, Asparagus, 
Globe Artichoke Horse Radish, and Patience Dock, 
(the latter the best of all early greens, and very hardy, 
permanent and economical,) as they then become well 
rooted and established before the winter sets in. 
All the hardy species of bulbous flower roots, such as 
Hyacinths, Tulips, Japan and other Lilies, Crown Im¬ 
perials, Gladiolus, Bulbous Iris, Crocus, Narcissus, Jon¬ 
quils, Fritillaries, Qrnithologalum, and various others, 
and all the magnificent varieties of the shrubby (called 
Tree) Pceony, and of the Chinese and other herbaceous 
Peeonies, will, if planted thus early, become much more 
vigorous, increase more rapidly, and bloom with in¬ 
creased vigor and beauty. 
Fruit and Ornamental Trees and Shrubbery and 
Hoses, cannot be safely transplanted in this latitude, 
until the first of October, and those intended for the 
south should not be forwarded until the first of Novem¬ 
ber, at which time vegetation will have become suffi¬ 
ciently dormant for their safe removal. To the western 
states, inland, they may be safely forwarded the begin¬ 
ning of October. Wm. R Prince. Linneean Gar¬ 
den Nurseries, Flushing, N. Y., Aug. 24, 1853. 
