PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 
355 
When the three plants are rooted, and growing, a knife passed 
cautiously through the ball at the angle formed by the lines 1 and 2, 
will secure a sufficiency of earth to protect the young plant from a 
very serious check, and if the pots of cuttings be placed in a shal¬ 
low propagation frame, having a sliding sash light a few inches only 
above the tips of the cuttings, there will, generally speaking, be little 
need of employing bell-glasses. But a few phials with necks at least 
half an inch clear in the bore, and nearly filled with rain water, will 
not only furnish a resource for the operator, but afford him an op¬ 
portunity of watching, day by day, the mode in which nature effects 
her radical developements. T am persuaded by the evidence of my 
daily experiments, and the analogy thereby traceable—that, most 
succulent and semi-succulent plants will, if favourably treated, pro¬ 
trude roots into water. 
Neriiim Splendens; —indeed, Oleanders in general will strike 
freely. 
Balsamina —the balsam will strike almost directly, and procure a 
flowering plant of three inches in height. 
Gesneria will, I believe, root to a certainty ; though not rapidly. 
I have by me a single leaf of Gloxinea Speciosa, which I took off 
with its bud, close at the junction with the stem. I plunged the 
phial in a bed, and in a few days, the base of the footstalk began to 
swell; the little bud upon it became greener, increased, and threw 
out two minute leaves. A fortnight has elapsed, and, to-day I ob¬ 
serve a round, whitish knob about one-sixth of an inch across, at the 
base of the stalk, and one single fibre emerging from that above it,— 
but still resting on the leaf, a complete plant in miniature is traceable. 
Now, all this is delightful and instructive. I drop a few hints only 
at this time, because I cannot command leisure to proceed at length; 
and moreover, these hints may prove a stimulus to the wise and in¬ 
dustrious horticulturist. Reader—I beseech you to follow the lead— 
pursue the inquiry, and communicate your discoveries to your bre¬ 
thren.—None will be more grateful than he who believes he now com¬ 
municates something of novelty ; but who, if he have been, (though 
unknowingly) forestalled, will be one of the first to acknowledge his 
tardiness. 
July 4, 1834. 
P. S. I could name several experiments, but these may present 
matter for a future paper; however, I think that, Dahlias maybe 
raised in water, and that, in great probability pine apple suckers and 
crowns would emit roots, but require a good heat and cautious im¬ 
mersion. 
a a 3 
