THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, May 12, 1857. 
pot Auriculas from Mr. Turner, of Slough. lie gives 
a shine to every plant, he grows, but how he does it is 
the mystery. The Auriculas were most beautiful; one- 
third of them were green-edged, and more than that 
were seifs, or kinds with one colour and the eye colour. 
All these seifs had white eyes except Attraction , a rich 
mulberry, with a large yellow eye; Vulcan was the best 
dark one, with a white eye; Lovely Ann has the broadest 
green edge, and Ringleader the best green florist’s edge. 
Mrs. Smith and Bessie Bell are two of my own favourite 
dark seifs after Vulcan, and I prefer seifs to all others. 
I have a bed of seedlings with above sixty plants of 
these seifs and a score of mongrels, all from a shilling’s 
worth of seeds ; but my plants are kings and queens in 
dress as compared with the plain-edged kinds of the 
florists, for my edges are frilled and fringed and 
crimpled as true as mathematics, and there is no dust 
or powder at all on them, and when the rest of the 
world will be wise enough every one who has a garden 
will buy a shilling’s worth of Auricula seeds, and another 
of Polyanthus seeds, of which we have “ oceans” in the 
Experimental from a hint we gflt from one of our sub¬ 
scribers, about the “ flowers of my childhood,” two years 
since. D. Beaton. 
P.S.—Mr. Fleming sent rooted cuttings of Grape 
Vines made from the green tops and laterals, a plan 
which he has long adopted at Trentham, and which is 
quite different from the discovery by Mr. Gruneberg. 
WINDOW GARDENING FOE- SPRING. 
(Continued from page G7.) 
Propagation by Cuttings. —Everything said in the way 
of preparation for seed sowing will apply to striking cuttings 
in pots, only the drainage, if possible, should be more care¬ 
fully prepared, and the second layer from the top should he 
one-half sand and one-half compost, and the top layer, from 
a half to one inch in thickness, should consist entirely of pure 
sand. The use of the sand is to prevent too much moisture 
accumulating about the base of the cutting on the one hand, 
so as to rot it, or the entrance of too much air on the other, 
to dry it up. 
In all particular cases what was said of double pots for 
seedlings is still more applicable to cuttings. Two or three 
cuttings placed firmly close to the sides of a small pot, and 
| that placed in a larger one, and the space between stuffed Avith 
moss, Ac., and a bellglass or tumbler placed over, with its 
j lips resting on the moss, will strike sooner than if placed in 
J a larger pot, because the sides of the pot, as well as the 
1 nearness to the hard drainage, from the resistance given to 
the swelling of the cutting, will cause roots sooner to be 
protruded. 
When bellglasses and much trouble in shading cannot be 
commanded a larger pot may be used, but only half filled, 
and in addition to the covering of sand it will be advisable 
to place a stone, a piece of brick, or charcoal in the centre, 
and insert the cuttings close to the side of the pot, and place 
a square of glass across its mouth. 
All that was said about a Waltonian case and a stand on the 
[ principle of a hot-water table will equally apply to cuttings, 
and in such a case for window plants anything in the shape 
of bellglasses will rarely be required. If such a case or 
! frame is used, whether the top be in one or several pieces of 
glass, it will be desirable that it should be flat and easily 
moveable, so that its sides may be reversed. Anything 
in the shape of an ordinary handlight top would not answer 
well, because, if much moisture were condensed against the 
; inside, you would have to get rid of it by wiping frequently, 
whilst, if fiat, you have merely to turn the bottom side 
I upwards. 
As corroborative of the usefulness of a Waltonian case, or 
of a liot-water table-stand, I may mention that a gentleman 
1 who is very fond of plants, but who has nothing in the 
shape of a hotbed, told me the other day that he raises 
many cuttings and tender seeds very successfully in a 
stout old deal box, the bottom part of which is lined with ' 
tin, and with a second tin bottom lour inches above the bot¬ 
tom of the box. This space he fills and empties of water at 
pleasure by a funnel at one end and a small tap at the other. 
In general he supplies water every twenty-four hours; in 
cold weather twice in that time. As he cultivates merely to 
gratify himself be has not yet brought himself to look upon 
it as a “ work of necessity” to give this hot water on Sab¬ 
baths, and yet he says the soil is generally nice and warm 
on Monday mornings, though the hot water was supplied the 
last thing on Saturday night. Having used large bottles of 
hot water in frames and pits T can well suppose that such 
heat will continue a long time when surrounded with a non¬ 
conducting substance. 
Much of the mystery attending striking cuttings would 
be dispelled did we remember that success in general will 
be in proportion to our means and skill for preventing the 
cutting feeling the check of its removal from its parent 
stem. Hence, other things being equal, well-ripened shoots 
of evergreens and leafless ripe shoots of deciduous plants 
are more easily struck than those in a greener growing state, 
though, if all necessary appliances are present, the latter will 
strike the soonest. For instance, make a Currant cutting in 
November, and plant it in the ground, and next summer it 
will make shoots and roots, because what stimulates these 
will stimulate the others. Plant a similar cutting with its 
leaves on in July and August, and it will die to a certainty, 
because the leaves will evaporate moisture, and there is no 
means of supply. Surround that cutting with a bellglass, 
shade it from the sun, give a moist atmosphere, so that the 
leaves are forced to absorb as well as perspire, and thus are 
kept from anything like flagging, and by this extra care you 
will get a rooted plant sooner. The same as respects a 
Fuchsia. Plant deciduous leafless shoots anywhere during 
autumn and winter where they will be free from frost, and 
in April and May they will make roots and shoots. But 
there is a nice-growing plant in your window in the beginning 
of May; it has many little sboots on it from two to three 
inches in length. Slip them off close to the stem, or, as gar¬ 
deners say, with a heel; dress away any loose matter and a few 
of the lower leaves; insert theslips in a pot, and expose them 
to sun and air in your window, and most likely your labour will 
be lost; but cover them with a bellglass to keep the atmo¬ 
sphere about them moist, and shade from sunshine until they 
can stand it without flagging, and you will have rooted plants 
in about as many days as you would have had in weeks from 
deciduous leafless cuttings. The same, again, as respects 
a Myrtle. A hard, well-ripened shoot will strike with but 
little attention and shade, but if must have time. A half- 
ripened shoot, though softish, will strike sooner only if you 
can keep its leaves from flagging. 
Hence will be seen, at once, the folly of contending about 
what and how many leaves should be left upon a cutting. 
Could we prevent these leaves flagging, in other words, force 
them to absorb more than they perspire, then the more leaves 
left the better. The difficulty of doing this makes it prudent 
to effect a compromise, and we lessen the number of leaves 
and shorten large' ones, that they may exhale less of the 
juices of the cutting. In general cases it is preferable to 
have the base of the cutting cut through at a bud, because 
the vital forces are more accumulated there, and there is 
less danger of damping from extra absorption of moisture. 
’When ivatered after planting the cuttings should be dry 
before being covered up Avitli glass, Ac. They should never 
be dry afterwards, but the foliage should frequently be dewed 
when the soil is moist enough. Air in a fresh state is as 
essential to them as groAviug plants; but in the case of 
those shut up Avitli glasses, Ac., the air should be given at 
first chiefly at night, and as they groAvthen continued morn¬ 
ing and evening. This air should be given by tilting 
up the glass on one side, say half an inch at first, and 
increasing the quantity by degrees, shutting down close 
before the sun strikes upon the cuttings'. Other things being 
equal, stiff side-shoots, slipped off as 1 have mentioned in 
the case of the Fuchsia, about three inches in length, Avill 
strike better than longer shoots cut into pieces. 
The window plants from Avhich cuttings may be taken in 
April and May are chiefly Acacia arrnata and grandis; Car¬ 
nations of the Tree kind ; Cgtisus racemosus, Attleana, and 
filipcs ; Coronilla glauca, and especially the variegated 
