332 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 37. 
shoot ill the autuinu will stand more air, and rougher 
treatment, than the soft, spongy, watery shoot in the 
spring. In the one case, growth is being arrested, in 
the other, it is being cxeited. Apply, in the first case, j 
and at once, such stimulus as a warm, close, shaded 
atmosphere, and in many cases you will get shanked 
cuttings and rotten tissues for your reward. Apply 
such e.'icitements when growth is progressing, in spring, 
and with tlie extra care for securing a close atmosphere 
and a diffused light, you will be paid in obtaining 
jilants in a seventh part of the time you would do in 
the autumn. Two general rules may, therefore, bo 
deduced from a primary jirinciple. First. Do not hurry : 
cuttings inserted in autumn ; let them have time, and 
as much air and light as they will stand without flag¬ 
ging. Second. Never allow cuttings inserted in siirimj, i 
or early summer, to receive a check if you can prevent | 
it. In their case, little or no air should be given during ! 
the day, until roots are produced, and then it must be j 
given at first in small quantities. Cuttings, as well as ' 
plants, must have their atmosphere changed at times. 
For preserving healthy robustness, and warding off insi- 
duous damps, i have long practised, and recommended, 
giving cuttings a little air at night, less or more, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances. 
3nd. “ What is the use of hellajlasses ? Is it to keep 
out the air? Would not a common frame answer the 
same purpose? A certain work says, after once placing 
them on the cuttings, wi})e them out ercry moruimj." 
Is not this to remove damp ; and would not wiping off 
the condensed moisture, on the inside of a cold frame, 
so as to prevent the moisture falling, answer a similar 
purpose? Or, might not air be admitted for a quarterof- 
an-hour to dry it up ? and, if so, what need of these 
expensive bell-glasses, especially when we have little 
enough to spend on such matters?" Now, some of these 
very matters puzzled my own brains more than twenty 
years ago, when there was no Cottage Gardener to 
resolve a doubt, but when we were left to arrive at 
principles and theories through the stern teachings of 
facts. Our correspondent, with commendable zeal, tells 
ns, that he “ likes to understand, and go through with 
everything he undertakes.” There is no want in his 
inquiries, and that of others’ that have reached me, on 
the same subject, but that oi definiteness. The question 
of cuttings is too general. ’ JJifferent plants require 
different treatment. Ten to one but the plants our 
friend has in liis eye require no such things as bell- 
glasses. But that is no conclusive argument against 
their use. I tliought myself wondrous clever when I 
got cuttings to root in plenty, in my father’s window, 
by adopting the simple plan of setting the pots on the 
floor during sunshine; and I deemed myself of still 
more importance when, in the shady borders of green- 
I houses and forciug-liouses, 1 got plants to root as if it 
I were at my bidding. I did not find myself to be a 
; perfect novice until I tried hard-woeded and dillicult 
'' plants; and then, so crestfallen was I, that even such a 
simple thing as a hand-light, full of rooted pink pipings, 
' gave me something like relief, because, then the first 
dim perceptions of the principles of propagating by 
cuttings passed through ray mind, 
j However we gentlemens’ gardeners may either 
: blunder, or stick to old customs just because they arc 
j “ ancient wayswe may rest assured, that there is 
1 reason for the processes employed, so long as shrewd 
I tradesmen, that must meet the competition of the 
market, adopt them. About twenty years ago, I noticed 
1 the finest sight of struck and striking hard-wooded 
; cuttings I over beheld; and, as not very long since I 
saw a similar plan successfully adopted, it may bo pro¬ 
fitable to detail it here. 'The liouso was a wide lean-to, 
with a pit in the middle and shelves all round. The 
pit was filled with tan and sand, so as to give out a 
steady mild heat of about 70°. The plants. Heaths, 
Epacrises, &c., bad been slightly excited before the short 
cuttings were taken off; the pots had been more than 
three parts filled with drainage, then a little saudy-peat, 
covered witli an inch of silver-sand, and well watered. 
When dry and firm, the cuttings were inserted and 
watered, when the tops were dry the pots were plunged 
for three parts of their depth in the pit, each covered , 
firmly with a bell-glass, and then the sashes of the pit 
put on. You will observe, that here there were three ^ 
thicknesses of glass: the roof of tlie house, the sash of the i 
pit, and the bell-glass; and, notwithstanding the diti'u- I 
sion of light from passing these mediums, a slight 
shading was wanted in bright days. The following 
were the circumstances in which I found them. Some 
lights were close shut, and the bell-glasses beneath them 
close over the plants; beneath, other lights also close, 
many of the bell-glasses were raised a little on one side, 
because rooting was progressing; in others, farther 
advanced, the glasses were removed, but the sashes were 
close; while in others, the bell-glasses were not only 
removed, but there was an inch of air at the top of the 
light. In looking round me, I saw others standing 
with a great deal of air under hand-lights; and others, 
on open shelves, hardening off for potting. Now, I by 
no means say that such things could not be struck 
without all this attention and bell-glass-management; 
but I question if many other modes would be more 
certain, e.vpeditious, and economical. With these general 
remarks, I jiroceed to make a few running notes on our 
correspondent’s inquiries and deductions. 
1. "The great expense of hell-glasses to amateurs.” I 
think they are the cheapest agents he can employ. A 
dozen of them, from four to si.x inches in diameter, 
may be got for about a crown, provided there is only 
one or two of the last size. Now, without saying any¬ 
thing of the expense of a frame, it is not likely it will 
be always devoted to propagating purposes; it most 
likely will have another crop during the season; but 
it is very probable, that now and then some cuttings 
of desirable things may come in his way; and then, if 
what we have said of air, &c., be true, the cuttings 
could not receive justice in the frame, and the main 
crop in it too. Now, in such a case, a bell-glass comes 
to our aid; for, if we even put the cuttings in the frame, 
by means of the bell-glass we can give the cuttings any 
degree of shade, of closeness or openness we require. 
Half-a-dozen, even, of such utensils would open up a 
large held for experiment. A good substitute would be 
to insert the cuttings in a small pot, and then set it in¬ 
side a larger one, so that the tops of the cuttings are 
below its rim, and over that to place a square of glass 
that would cover the mouth of the pot. Turning the 
glass every day would prevent damping from condensed 
moisture dropping. 
3. “ The use of the hell-glass." This is not merely to 
keep the cuttings from the exhausting effects of a free 
current of air, but also to prevent the evaporation of i 
their juicies, by surrounding tliem with an atmosphere [ 
more or less saturated with moisture. Every leaf and ' 
green part of a cutting, previous to its being taken from 
its parent plant, performed perspiring, elaborating, and ^ 
assimilating agencies. These were sustained by the 
reciprocal action going on between branches and roots. 
The hrst thing we do is to destroy that connection when 
we remove the cutting. Our next object should bo to 
preserve the cutting as it is; to place it in circumstances 
in which it shall not be allowed to perspire more than 
it can absorb. Assimilation must, therefore, take place 
slowly, and tlius wo give light and air in proportion as 
the cuttings are forming a callus, or roots. Now, with 
bell-glasses, we could give every pot in a propagating 
frame its distinctive necessary treatment, which we 
cannot do without, because, in dillicult cases, when we j 
