236 
TEE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 12, 1858. 
the resistance given by the hard sides to the swelling bark, 
they are more likely to strike roots there. Several ama¬ 
teurs, to our knowledge, have, in this fine autumn, lost many 
cuttings, from inserting them late in large vessels. One 
amateur a twelvemonth ago, went through a series of ex¬ 
periments, and with results similar to what we had previously 
experienced; so that they may be generally interesting. With 
the exception of his windows, some small, and some large 
bellglasses, his whole glass was a liandlight or two. Having 
been unfortunate in raising Verbenas, &c., we advised him to 
strike them in pots in August, under his liandlight, with due 
directions as to shading, airing, &c., and he succeeded ad¬ 
mirably ; only he forgot to put them in pots : and in potting, 
and, perhaps, a little carelessness afterwards, the plants were 
greatly injured. This was the season previous to the ex¬ 
periments. Next year the cuttings were put in pots, under 
the liandlight, during the middle of August, and did well. In 
the middle of September, seven or eight healthy shoots, about 
three inches long, beyond the part (about one inch and a 
half long), held firm in the soil, were laid at the Verbena 
bed in a four or five-inch pot, well drained, and filled with 
very sandy loam and leaf mould. When well rooted, the 
pot was cleared from the stems, and kept shaded for a 
few days. Our friend says, this is the easiest mode for 
those not having glass. The other experiments bear on 
the present case. Three pans, from nine to twelve inches 
wide, and from three to -more inches in depth, were filled 
on the 20th of September, and set in a south window— 
to be shaded from the sun when necessary—and each covered 
with a bellglass. The first pan was prepared, as we have 
mentioned, for soil, after being efficiently drained. In tills a 
number of the cuttings damped off, and gave way, in winter; 
and even after they had rooted. The second was prepared in 
the same way as respects drainage: but after a little rough 
stuff was thrown over the drainage, the surface was divided 
into spaces, about one inch wide, across the pan. In other 
words, into long parallelograms, the width of the pan in length, 
and one inch or so in width, by lines of crocks on one side, 
and by charred wooden laths on the other. The spaces were 
filled with suitable compost, and pressed down, and the cut¬ 
tings inserted in rows; and, in this case, few cuttings, in 
comparison, were lost. The third pan, after a potsherd had 
been placed on each large hole in the bottom, was then 
covered to the depth of nearly an inch, with fine-washed 
gravel; and on that was placed some nice clean moss that had 
previously been steeped in hot lime water, to make sure that 
there were no slugs, &c., left hi it. In that moss small 60-sized, 
pots were placed in the centre, and large thumb-pots all round 
after they had received suitable, but not deep, drainage, and 
had been filled with suitable soil. The cuttings, from two to 
three inches long, were inserted firmly round the sides of 
these pots (not in the middle), and hardly one failed; and 
one of the causes of success our friend attributed to the 
moisture exhaling from the moss neutralising the dry air of 
the room; and by damping tills moss he could supply 
moisture to the cuttings and young plants without wetting 
the surface-soil and the tiny stems of the young plants—a 
matter of considerable moment when these stems, as in win¬ 
dows, are exposed to considerable alternations as respects heat 
and dryness. We have though it right to mention these 
minutia3, as bearing upon many plants besides Verbenas. 
If struck at the beginning of September, or the end of August, 
such minute attention would be less necessary. 
Position and Treatment of the JPan ,—Besides these matters, 
the lateness of the season, &c., there must have been a good 
deal in the position and the management to account for the 
failure. You seem to have given air all right by lifting the 
bellglass, or tilting it; but we doubt if your cuttings had 
enough of exposure to the sun. Their keeping so long, their 
greenness, their weakness, and their not rooting, all tend to 
confirm this idea. The quick rooting of a cutting depends 
greatly on keeping the cuiting as much as possible in the 
same condition as it enjoyed before severing it from the parent 
stem, so that it may grow on, and know as little as possible 
of drawbacks. We are now alluding to growing cuttings fur¬ 
nished with leaves when taken off. The first thing to guard 
against is the wetting of the leaves ; and, therefore, to lessen 
the evaporating surface, we thin, or shorten, or remove some of 
the leaves, so that the little stem may be less easily drained of 
its juices: and to do this more thoroughly, we sprinkle the 
foliage left to prevent it evapoi*ating the juices of the cuttings. 
After inserting them, we place a bellglass over them, that the 
ah around them may be still and charged Avitli moisture, so 
that the cutting may be forced to absorb as well as perspire. 
These precautions taken, and kept always in a subdued 
light, the cutting maybe appai’ently fresh — may even elon¬ 
gate—and yet no roots be formed. Let but a strong sun 
shine long upon the glass covering the cuttings, and the 
balance of absorbing and perspiring will at once be broken. 
The sun’s rays stimulate into extra activity the vital forces of 
the cutting ; a quicker and a more abundant perspiration of 
moisture takes place; the cutting cannot absorb, to meet 
the extra demand ; and, ere long, it will flag, droop, and die. 
A rapid decomposition of carbonic acid gas, and a fixation of 
carbon, also take place; and none is left to carry on the 
functions of the plant. Hence the importance of shading 
in such circumstances, to neutralise the action of the sun’s 
beams. But Ave must have no continuous shade. Young 
gardeners even, are sadly forgetful of this. They Avill shade 
a glass, or a seines of pits, in bright sunshine. You go 
round, hours after the sun has become cloudy, and there you 
find the shading still; though, every moment the shading re¬ 
mained after it Avas not needed, the weaker would the cutting 
become, and the longer Avould it be before emitting roots—if it 
ever emitted them at all. We arrive at this conclusion, from 
the well-known fact, that solid matter (the fixation of carbon), 
is only added to plants in fight and sunshine. Cuttings wilt 
not, at first, stand that fight and heat: but the more they can 
be bi’ought to stand, Avithout flagging, and the sooner they 
can be made to do it, the sooner will roots be formed. When¬ 
ever the base, or the sides, of such cuttings as Verbenas throxv 
out callosities, and moisture is sufficient, they will stand a 
considerable amount of sunlight early in the morning, and 
late in the afternoon, Avithout shading. “ Not exposed to the 
sun,” has, Ave fear, been your chief drawback in such a season 
as this has been. In your case, and at that late season, a 
Avindow facing the south should have been chosen. The bell- 
glass might be kept close for the first day and night, and a 
piece of thick paper put over the glass when the sun shone. 
The second night Ave would edge up the glass on one side, a 
quarter of an inch, which would freshen the air. Next day 
remove the shade as soon as possible; that is, when by re¬ 
moving the pan early in the afternoon, to the west side of 
the window, the cuttings may have bright light, and yet not 
direct sunbeams, and there they will not flag. In the same 
position they might enjoy some of the first rays of the sun 
in the morning, and then be placed at the east side of the 
window, Avhere they might also stand some time, before the 
cuttings would require shading; taking care during all these 
operations, and whilst giving a little air, evei’y night, that the 
glass is shut doAvn close dxiring the day, until the roots are 
growing away freely, when air must be admitted. Then, also, 
in small quantities at first; and then more fully by degx-ees, 
until the glass is dispensed with. In one word—shade and 
sprinkle, to prevent flagging. Shade not a moment more than 
is necessary to do this. Write again if this do not' meet 
your case.] 
LETTER FROM A CALIFORNIAN 
HORTICULTURIST. 
Our countxy (the Pacific coast), is, so far as systematic and 
scientific culture is concerned, all new and untried. Only a 
few years ago, nothing was known; and up to the present 
hour almost everything is to be learned. Some very stinking 
results, however, have followed our feeble experiments. In 
Januai’y of 1856, I received, from a farm in Western Nexv 
Yoi’k, Elm and Sugar Maple seedlings, about 3,500 each. 
They would average some three or four inches long. They 
had grown side by side there, and equally well. They arrived 
in good condition, and were planted in a choice piece of 
ground, and treated with equal care. The Elms have grown 
vigorously; many of them are now ten, and some twelve, 
feet high; while the Maples have mostly perished ; and those 
that still five, neither grow , nor promise continuance of life. 
The Horse Chestnut, so noble with you, refuses almost 
entirely to grow here. The Beech, after frequent impor- 
