470 
EXTRACTS—FLORICULTURE. 
to let up or down, as occasion required. In [June, pluck oft’ the dying petals 
which if suffered to remain are injurious to their forming the seed. Nip off also 
the whole of the pips of young plants, just above the pedicels, to strengthen and 
increase their growth. Persons who are careless about the seed, may treat them 
all in this way. 
Potting .—As to the fittest time for shifting the plants into fresh compost, 
it matters very little, whether it be done in the middle of June, or two months 
later, provided a few days of clouded sky and moist atmosphere should occur. 
The plants, after flowering, relapse into inactivity, and grow very little during 
the hot summer months. If you pot early, you ought also to top dress the plants 
with fresh compost in September; because the mould in the pots, by that time 
must be greatly impoverished by watering. Remove all the large offsets from 
the plants, some time in March, because they grow quickest in the spring.— 
Hogg’s Supplement on Flor. 
General Management of Plants under Glass. (Continued fromp. 422.) 
Cuttings are slips cut from the mother plant for the purpose of setting, in orderthat 
they may make roots, and form young plants. A small house should be devoted 
to their propagation, but if this cannot be obtained, a frame may be used, situated 
so as only to have the morning sun; otherwise shading with mats will be neces¬ 
sary. Those requiring heat should be plunged in a bed of tan, or placed in a 
hot-bed. Cuttings of woody plants take root best in fine sand, for they strike 
more freely in it, and are safer to pot off' after being rooted, since the sand shakes 
clean from their roots, and this is not the case when they have been planted in 
mould. But as some of the soft wooded kinds will not strike well in sand, they 
must be planted in mould. In making cuttings, no leaves should be taken off, 
or shortened, except in that part which is to be buried in the ground, where they 
should be cut off as close to the stem as possible. The more leaves there are on 
a cutting, the sooner it will take root, and the more shallow they are planted the 
better, but they must be well fastened in the ground. The pots in which they 
are planted should be well drained with sherds, and kept rather moist, but not 
too wet, and the hand or bell glasses with which they are covered should be taken 
off and wiped occasionally. When the cuttings are rooted, and have been potted 
off, they require to be placed in a frame for a few days and shaded; after this 
they should be hardened by degrees. When plants cannot be easily raised from 
cuttings or layers, budding, inarching, and grafting must be resorted to, on some 
other plant nearly related. To describe all the different methods of grafting, 
budding, inarching, and layering, would occupy considerable space, and would be 
of little service, since all practical men are acquainted with the most useful me¬ 
thods. In procuring loam and peat for potting plants, the top spit is always to 
be preferred, with the turf upon it, aud as fresh as possible. Where peat cannot 
be had, decayed leaves or wood may be substituted. The lighter and more sandy 
loam is the better, as it will require less peat and sand to be mixed with it. A 
certain quantity of sand is always a proper ingredient in mould intended to be 
used in potting or shifting plants.— Geo. Don. 
