242 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
June 30. 
Many, however, will object to the trouble even of 
these shades, and would prefer something that would 
i give a mild continuous shade during summer. For this 
purpose, nothing is better than Hartley’s patent rough 
sheet glass. I have also found that the fluted glass of 
the same firm is excellent for plants in summer. I have 
not myself proved the efficacy of either for early forcing, 
but information on this matter would be very desirable, 
as there can be no question that such glass would 
minimize labour in plant-growing in summer. But, as 
many have houses of common glass, many modes have 
been adopted to produce the desired result. The other 
day, I saw a house thickly encrusted with lime. The 
objection to this is, that if used in at all in a quick 
state it will injure both paint and putty. Whiting is 
better. The objection to both is, that the first shower 
will wash them off. Hence I have previously recom¬ 
mended double size, with the smallest amount of 
whiting—say the size of a walnut to more than a quart. 
I saw a great many of what had been fine blinds lying 
in a nursery, fast going to decay, lately, and the houses 
had been sized and whitened instead. The proprietor 
told me that it answered far better, and saved an im¬ 
mense of mishaps and bother in mistakes about shading. 
He had, however, put his on on the inside of the glass, 
instead of the outside, stating that when on the outside 
the rains washed it oil'. This, I believe, must have been 
owing to some mistake in the process. Besides, the 
moisture inside, especially when much of the syringe 
was used, would be apt to bring the material about the 
plants, and render them unsightly. In my own practice, 
I do not get rid of it until after the rains of autumn, 
when placed on the outside. Of course, a little whiting 
water, put on in a moment with the syringe, is washed 
off' with the first shower. I may, therefore, repeat the 
essentials necessary for sizing the outside of the glass. 
Double or jelly size is used; that is heated nearly to 
boiling point, without any water being put with it. 
When the glass is thoroughly dry, and the sun not 
shining strong, it is put on the glass in the hot state, 
by means of a brush pulled briskly along it. This will 
give a roof resembling thin rough sheet. When a little 
more shade is wanted, the size of a marble of whiting 
is dissolved in the size, and when still more shade, the 
size of a walnut of that material. This sticks so fast, 
I when so put on, that I have frequently had to use a 
i little soda, in water just warmed, to remove it entirely, 
when the dull days of autumn came. 
From trying various experiments, I can recommend 
another mixture, chiefly the invention of a respectable 
young painter. The mixture is as follows :—One quart 
of water, one pound of size, the jelly kind, one pint of 
turpentine, the size of a walnut of whiting, and lialf-a- 
tablefepoonful of oil, all blended together, well stirred, 
and put on with a brush when hot. 1 am just now 
looking into a small greenhouse with a west aspect so 
done. For the glass of the roof, the brush was dipped 
in the mixture, and then pulled quickly along it. For 
the upright front sashes, the squares were thus painted, 
and then quickly daubed with the points of a dry brush, 
j which gave it a slightly mottled appearance. When 
| standing at a short distance, you canuot perceive that 
any thing has been done to the glass, and yet in the 
strongest afternoon suns, the shade lias been quite 
j effectual, and secured a luxuriant blossom, in the case of 
j Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Cactus, &c. There seems no 
; likelihood of rains washing it off. A damp from the 
1 syringe, and a rub with a cloth or brush, easily removes 
it. I think that the bloom is better coloured, and 
longer preserved, than by any other mode of continuous 
shading. A little goes a great way. The turpentine 
I and oil prevent all danger to the paint. In dull weather 
you can scarcely perceive that the house is shaded. No 
cloth of any kind could do it so finely, and then all the 
trouble is saved. I do not think that more light will be 
wanted until the end of October. R. Fish. 
CONIFER.E. 
{Continued from page 200.) 
Pkopagation : by Cuttings. —A cutting is a small 
twig, or shoot, taken from a living tree, to form, when 
rooted, a separate individual capable of growing to the 
same size as the tree it is taken from, and also, when 
old enough, of bearing seeds. The reason,-in general, 
why we increase by cuttings is because the tree or shrub 
so propagated is either too young to produce seeds, or 
will not produce seeds in this couutry. This is espe¬ 
cially the case with the more rare or lately imported 
Conifers; as, for instance, the Funereal Cypress of China, 
and the Cryptomeria from Japan, both of which strike 
root from cuttings easily, and soon form young trees 
with leading shoots and side branches in all points 
equal to seedlings. It is quite true there are some that 
will root easily enough, but do not so easily form a per¬ 
fect tree—some remaining with only side branches, and 
never attaining a central leading shoot. The Araucaria 
excelsa is an instance, and also the Finns nobilis, and 
one or two others. I once saw an Araucaria excelsa 
that, when imported from Norfolk Island, had on it two 
leading shoots. The skilful propagator at Pine-Apple 
Place (Mr. Fancourt) took off one of the leading shoots, 
put it in as a cutting, and rooted it in a very short time. 
It grew apace, and formed as perfect a tree as the one 
from which it was taken. This gives us a practical hint 
how to obtain such perfect trees. All we have to do is 
to take out a central shoot, and thus induce several 
leaders, which may be taken off as soon as formed, and 
put in as cuttings. 
The way to manage cuttings of Coniferm is first to 
prepare a pot to put them in; drain it well, and cover 
the drainage with a little moss; then (ill the pot to 
within an inch of the top with a compost of loam and 
sandy peat, mixing it freely with sand ; upon this place 
an inch of pure sand, watering it gently to settle it and 
make it firm. Then prepare the cuttings—take them 
off the tree just at the point where the last-made wood 
joins to the wood made the previous year; trim off, 
without wounding the bark, the lower leaves, and 
branches, if any, and insert the cuttings in rows across 
the cutting pot till it is full. The best time to do this 
is about the month of October, though they will do 
pretty well even up to the March following. Water the 
cuttings gently, and allow the tops to dry; then place 
them in a very gentle hotbed, just warm enough to 
cause them to form a swelling at the base, but not so 
hot as to induce shoots, unless the operator has the 
convenience of a greenhouse to harden them off. They 
do not require bell-glasses, or, at least, will root very 
well without them. I have just now several pots of 
cuttings of this tribe, that are rooting beautifully in a 
gentle hotbed set upon coal ashes, without any bell- 
glasses, and scarcely one has failed. 
In putting in cuttings of Couifene in the above 
manner, 1 refer more especially to the more rare kinds, 
such as the Cryptomerias, some Cypresses, Taxodium 
sempervirens, Arbor vita, and some of the genus Taxus. 
Others that are more common may be successfully pro¬ 
pagated by cuttings put in early in the autumn, under 
hand-glasses, on a north-west border, where the sun 
leaves them about ten o’clock. For such the ground 
should be prepared in a similar way to that in the cut¬ 
ting pots, and the cuttings put in by the same method. 
The hand-glasses should be kept on through the winter, 
and removed as soon as they begin to grow in spring. 
If labour is no object, these cuttings may be taken up 
