THE COTTAGE GARDENER. [February 21. 
ones, merely because from custom they have con¬ 
tracted a stinginess of manner, even in obliging. 
Hence, in the case of two individuals equally high- 
minded and generous, especially in great matters, 
such a little thing as a plant or cutting maybe given 
by one in such a manner as to warm, unite, and 
attract; and by the other, in such a way as to cool, 
to distance, and repel. These are matters worth 
thinking over; for to our own knowledge, kind feel¬ 
ings and friendly rivalries have been engendered 
by the free open manner of giving a plant, a cutting, 
or even a rose-bud, that have been the means of con¬ 
stituting sunny neutral spots where those met, and 
exchanged neighbourly and friendly courtesies, who 
otherwise would have been too successfully kept 
asunder by family castesliip, political partisanship, 
and religious sectarianism. 
In propagating greenhouse and window plants from 
cuttings, several preliminary preparations are to be 
attended to, and several principles kept in mind; 
most of these have been already referred to, but they 
will bear recapitulating. 
First, then,— Soil, according to the nature of that 
which the plant requires when growing, should be 
prepared for its propagation. For general purposes, 
the compost should be of a light sandy nature. For 
the heath tribe nothing but sandy peat should be 
used, with a covering of pure sand. Where heath 
soil is not wanted, a compost consisting of fibry loam, 
leaf mould free of worms and insects, and rough 
sand in equal proportions, and, if comeatable, half as 
much as any of the others of fine charcoal, will make 
a good standing compost for the generality of plants. 
This, however, should be passed through several 
sieves, so as to give several degrees of fineness; the 
roughest to go over the drainage, the next coarsest 
over that, a finer to succeed, and a dusting of silver 
sand over all, which is principally for keeping the 
cuttings firm, and preventing the air entering to 
their base. We strike great quantities of things at 
this season, where altogether there is not two inches 
of soil, and yet we use these gradations, as to its 
fineness and texture, and with the best results. The 
matter was previously referred to in the autumn. 
2nd. Pots. These should be thoroughly clean, and 
half filled with drainage. In particular cases, where 
you are more than ordinarily anxious to insure success, 
the inverting of a three-inch pot into a five or six-inch 
one—placing a potsherd upon the hole in the bottom 
of the small inverted pot, and putting some drainage 
round the sides between the pots, before filling with 
the compost—is a very good plan, especially where it 
is both proper and possible to plunge the pot in a 
nice bottom-heat: first, because roots are generally 
soonest emitted when the base of the cutting comes 
in contact with a hard porous substance, owing to 
the resistance given to the mere extension of thec<m- 
biitm matter, or secretion from which the rootlets 
spring at the base, and the consequent excitement to 
vital energy thus produced; and secondly, because 
the heat will rise in the inverted pot like a chimney 
when the pot is placed in a hotbed; and thus the 
ends and sides of the cuttings placed against it will 
be excited into extension, even when the top of the 
cutting is kept comparatively cool—evolving, thus, a 
principle of great importance in our treatment -of 
plants, though it may not altogether agree with the 
orthodox views of some physiologists. Those who can 
get as many pots as they require for such purposes 
may consider themselves fortunate; many are glad 
if they can get shallow boxes, pans, or even common 
semi-circular drain-tiles. 
3rd. Preparing a small hotbed for such purposes, 
where practicable. —Here I cannot do better than refer 
to the directions lately given by Messrs. Errington 
and Beaton, as the more carefully such work is done, 
the less likely will it be that you will be disappointed. 
Being rather scarce of fermenting material, 1 do not 
reduce it much by sweetening it; but such a system 
would not do for a young beginner. It is principally 
owing to these mild hotbeds that we can propagate 
manv things in spring in a third of the time we could 
strike them in the autumn; because, at the latter- 
period, anything like a hotbed is often injurious; 
and so it would be frequently in the spring, unless 
the plants were previously prepared for it. 
4tli. This preparation consists in the exciting a 
fresh growth, by an increase ot the temperature, 
before the cuttings are removed from the plants. 
Some plants are so accommodating that even now 
cuttings taken from a cool house, and transferred at 
once to a hotbed, succeed perfectly; but in all deli¬ 
cate cases, and especially with the finer hard-wooded 
plants, the experiment is often attended with com¬ 
plete or partial failure. In such cases it is better to 
keep the cuttings close but cool, waiting patiently 
until a callus is formed at then- base, when, if you 
are anxious to hurry them on, they may receive a 
little bottom-heat with advantage. 
In noticing the Kentish Hero, Calceolaria, I men¬ 
tioned that it was rather difficult to propagate. An 
able correspondent gave us bis account of propaga¬ 
ting it in a very cool place in the autumn, and Mr. 
Beaton recommended spring. In the end of summer 
wo struck some in about ten weeks, with failures; in 
September and October others were rooted in about 
seven weeks, with failures; in November and Decem¬ 
ber in four weeks, a slight bottom-heat, and kept 
close, no failures; January and February, cuttings 
brought from a temperature of 50°, set in a hotbed 
of 05°, with a little air left in, struck in three weeks, 
not one failure. 
Though plants, in general, are more easily propa¬ 
gated now than in the autumn, we must not forget 
that we shall propagate poorly now if we have not 
plants kept over since the autumn to propagate from. 
In choosing cuttings, select, as much as possible, nice 
stubby, fresh-grown shoots, instead of those that are 
older, or more weak and lanky. Where no hotbed can 
be obtained, propagating need not commence either 
until the end of the month or the middle of March. 
Considerable care must be exercised in shading, &c. 
At a later period still, many plants may be suc¬ 
cessfully propagated in a shady place out of doors, 
such as fuchsias, calceolarias, geraniums, &c. The 
same result may often be obtained by different 
means, and yet the principle be identical in tbe 
different circumstances. The first cuttings 1 ever 
struck were reared iu a cottage window; they were 
set on the inside sill during the evening, and re¬ 
mained there until breakfast-time, when they were 
unceremoniously set upon the floor during the day; 
and they got on quite as well as those that were 
blessed with a paraphernalia of hotbeds, striking bell- 
glasses, &c. 
There are just one or two principles to bo attended 
to in striking cuttings taken from the parent plant 
in a growing state, to which we shall merely advert; 
the full elucidation of these would occupy of them¬ 
selves an article or two. First: Prevent the juices of 
the cutting from being evaporated, and tbe too rapid 
decomposition of carbonic acid gas from exposure to 
heat, air, and light. Hence the importance in all 
cases, but especially in the case of all hard-wooded 
T 
