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On Propagating Balsams hy Cuttings. 
Arttc lk IV.— On the Propagation o f Balsams hy Cuttings. 
By The Author of the Domestic Gardener’s 
Manual, a Corresponding Member of the Horticultural 
Gentlemen, 
Your querist, G. A, L., (in No. 7, page 327, of the Horti¬ 
cultural Register,) was not mistaken when he expressed his assurance 
that I should not “ hesitate to gratify the admirers of the Balsam, by an 
early communication on the subject of its propagation hy cuttingsP I 
hasten to meet his wishes, and at the same time, to afford all the infor¬ 
mation, I, as yet possess, on this interesting horticultural fact. At the 
same time, observing, that as the discovery appears to have been altoge¬ 
ther novel, insomuch that the committee of publication of the London 
Horticultural Society, has done me the honour, through the medium of 
the secretary, to announce that the paper addressed to that Society will 
be printed in the “ Horticultural Transactions,” I do not feel at liberty 
to furnish a copy of the original communication. 
It may now, however, suffice to mention, that in the month of April, 
1831, I received a packet of seeds of the Balsam, from a scientific 
friend, whose son had produced them in the preceding year, at Madras, 
and forwarded to his father. The seeds were, to all appearance, most 
perfect in their texture, and state of maturation; and I believe, that of 
all I sowed, scarcely one failed to produce a lively and healthy plant. I 
sowed the seeds in a pot of light sandy earth ; I plunged this pot in the 
earth of a melonry, which was a glazed pit, containing a bed of leaves, 
chiefly oak and beech. The pit was constructed, on three of its sides, 
of nine-inch brick work ; the fourth, that to the south-west, having a 
glazed sloping light. The bottom heat of the leaves, at the depth of 12 
inches, might be about 80 degrees; but as a stratum of melon earth, full 
fourteen inches thick, was placed on the leaves, the heat at the bottom 
of the pot scarcely exceeded 64 degrees. 
The young plants rose, were potted out, re-potted, kept near the glass, 
and finally, kept in the open air, according to the customary routine ; 
still, however, they evinced (with one exception only) not the slightest 
indication of producing blossom, although some had attained the height 
of three feet or more. At the close of the month of August I became 
impatient, and as 1 felt interested in the final result of my exertions, I 
determined to try how far I might be successful, in an endeavour to 
extend the period of the growth of my plants into a second year, by 
attempting to propagate them by cuttings. My direct object was, as it 
is stated, to convert one of the members of the plant into a perfect vege¬ 
table body, possessed of roots, and capable, under auspicious circum- 
