36 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Octobee 18, 1859. 
glass in a sweet hotbed; and, though duly shaded and watered, 
the most of them have gone, though I left a fair portion of leaves 
on them,” &c. 
These are only a portion of the complaints that reach us, and 
about which advice and knowledge are requested. Talk about- 
turning up the index of earlier volumes, and you get a look as 
much as to say, “ Yery nice indeed! Thank you for nothing ! 
I wish ypu may get it. No, no: if you wish us to read The 
Cottage Gaudeneb you must attend to our wants and wishes, 
or off we go elsewhere.” Much that we hear and much that we 
see at times painfully remind us that, with all our attempts to 
simplify, we have not succeeded, as the want of knowledge and 
the want of practice of these simplicities are the chief causes of 
disappointment. 
Using, then, our eyes as well as our ears, we would say that 
one cause of failure arises from not making the cuttings properly. 
We examined a lot the other day. Nice, stubby, young shoots, 
from two to three inches in length, had been tom from the older 
branch (not cut), and, with hardly a leaf removed, had been 
placed at once in cutting-pots and on a cutting-bed. Those in 
the pots were at no great distance from the glass ; and though 
the surface soil was moist, the leaves were ctuied and shrivelled, 
telling how little good they might be expected to do—merely 
because the laps of the glass being rather open, and the sun’s 
rays not carefully excluded, the great surface of foliage exhaled 
more moisture than could be absorbed either by the leaves or 
the stem of the cutting over all its length. Others made in 
the same careless way, and placed two feet or more from the 
glass, and kept moist, close, and shaded, were rotting off by 
scores, and this rotting seemed in most cases to commence at the 
base of the cutting where a thin film remained at the place where it 
had been torn from the parent stem. This film soon got saturated 
with water, decayed, carried the decay upwards, and rottenness 
ensued. In making a cutting, the base can never be left too 
clean ; and, therefore, with the sharpest clean-cutting of knives, 
every film should be carefully removed, when the cuttings are 
thus taken from the parent stem, and as carefully cut through at 
a joint when the end is not thus kept. Many things with solid 
stems will root very well though not thus cut through at a joint, 
- as they will root freer between the joints than at them : still, as a 
general rule, it is best to cut through at a joint, as the more solid 
part there prevents the too-free entrance of moisture. On this 
account, in the case of cuttings naturally succulent, it. is as well to 
dry these nicely-cut ends of the cuttings for half a day or so 
before planting them, taking care, however, that the leaves left 
are not allowed to flag. When growing-cuttings are inserted, 
the foliage left should never be allowed to droop. On the prin¬ 
ciples spoken of the other week, from the one-lialf to one-third of 
the foliage on the cutting naturally will be enough to leave. That 
will be enough to maintain the processes of vital action, and so 
lessen the evaporating or perspiring surfaces as to lessen the 
danger of the cuttings exhausting themselves, when not kept 
close and shaded. 
2nd. The materials used for the cuttings is another source of 
disappointment. Some who were in ecstacies at their rapid 
success in striking in saucers in sand and water, are now rather 
inclined to be fretful when they look on their saucers with little 
or nothing but the sand in them. Though approving of that 
method for striking in windows, especially in early spring, I 
stated more thah a twelvemonth ago that the cuttings must 
remain in such receptacles no longer than they were struck, for 
the attempt to keep them there, with the assistance even of 
manure watering, would be much more troublesome and less suc¬ 
cessful than in pots in the usual way. Some of our friends have 
gone to the other extreme, and used soil so stiffish as to keep the 
base of the cuttings as if wrapped in a wet sponge, from 
which the moisture could not easily get away, and rottenness 
ensued. Others have taken the other extreme, and given the 
cuttings nothing but sand; and though the pots were well drained 
these cuttings had only that one advantage over those grown in 
undrained saucers. As seen in the saucers, and also in pots of 
sand, there can be no question as to rooting, but the sand and 
water alone will not long keep them in health. Whenever the 
cuttings are to stand any time in tiie cutting-pot, the pots should 
be filled for a third with drainage at least, then enough soil of the 
kinds desired, whether sandy loam or sandy peat, then finer loam, 
with a little very fine leaf mould and sand, and then half an inch of 
pure sand for a covering, for fine tender things, and at least a 
sprinkling, for the commonest things. Under such a system the 
moisture cannot stagnate and get sour about the base of the 
cutting; and the surface sand, if at all moistish, will prevent the 
air entering and drying up the portion of the cutting inserted in 
the ground; whilst, as the roots are formed, they soon enter the 
lower stratum, and find a good healthy feeding-ground, in which 
they may remain for months, if necessary, in the winter time. In 
moving such plants no check is experienced similar to what they 
would receive if taken out of sand and water, unless great extra 
care is required. 
3rd. A third cause of failure arises from careless shading. 
Where amateurs must be absent for several hours during the day, 
it will be safest for them to place their cuttings at tw'o feet from 
the glass in September, to three feet in July. The sun’s rays 
will thus be more diffused before reaching the cuttings, and 
shading will be minimised. As soon as the rays of light strike 
powerfully on a cutting, not-to speak of the rapid decomposition, 
too, of the carbonic acid the cutting contained, we know' that 
the cutting will flag, because its leaves will evaporate mois¬ 
ture faster than they can get it. This leads us to put a screen 
between the cutt ing and the sun, and we may sprinkle the cuttings 
or the walls of the place in which they are placed, and take away 
most, if not all, the air, in order that the cuttings, being placed in 
a close, moist atmosphere, may be forced to absorb as much, or 
more, than they perspire. Carry on this process too far, in 
other w r ords keep shaded longer than it is necessary, and you cram 
the cuttings with moisture, and make, them as ricketty and sickly 
as a child would soon be who was well fed and confined to one 
small, darkened, unventilated room. Free solid additions are 
made to cuttings and plants under the influence of light. The 
cutting must have no more sun light at first than it can stand ; 
but every bit of shade it receives in cloudy days, morning and 
evening, more than it absolutely wants, is just so far a weakening 
of the cutting—an encouraging of the top to draw up spindly 
and a discouraging of the base to send out healthy roots. How 
often do we see a mat or a cloth thrown over cuttings in the 
sunny forenoon, remaining after the sun w r as either cloudy or 
struck so obliquely on the place, that the rays w’ould have done 
good instead of harm. Many such coverings for want of thought 
will remain all the evening and all the night, and save shading 
for the next day; and when this is persevered in, people w'onder 
that the cuttings, if they live, show more vitality in wire-drawing 
their little stems upwards than in forming roots downwards. 
At all times, but especially in autumn, do not shade at all, if a 
slight sprinkle from the syringe, and a close atmosphere w'ould 
prevent the leaves flagging. Of course, when there are several 
hours’ bright sunshine and the cuttings are new, shading in 
addition for a short time will be necessary. 
4th. A fourth cause of disappointment is using hotbeds for 
hardy things in autumn. Even in spring it answers best where 
rapid growth has previously been induced. In autumn little 
is gained by any such hurry. Give the cuttings lime and they 
will amply repay you by doing their work well. The great thing 
is, just to place the cutting as much as possible in the circum¬ 
stances in which it was placed before leaving its parent stem, as 
respects heat and other stimulants. Take a branch from a grow¬ 
ing plant in the open air, the greenhouse, or the plant-stove, and 
place each in a pot in these places respectively, letting them take 
the same chance as an established plant, and we should expect 
sudden death, because the evaporation vvould so greatly exceed 
the absorption. Hence the importance of a shading and a close 
atmosphere during the heat of the day, to save cuttings from ex¬ 
hausting themselves. Extra heat, however, to any great extent 
only encourages the cutting to draw itself out without adding 
fresh material; and if you do succeed in rooting, you must also 
again have extra care and trouble in hardening the plant and 
making it thus fit to contend with the circumstances in which it 
will be eventually placed. An exception may rightly be made in 
the case of comparatively hardy but slow-rooting plants. Thest 
should be treated in the mode alluded to, until tlie base of tin 
cuttings begins to swell, or callus, and then the pots may bt 
plunged in a sw'eet bottom heat, whilst, by means of air, the top 
are kept as cool as possible. Roots will thus be encouraged, ant 
the tops will not be drawn weak or rendered enfeebled. 
A fifth and chief cause of failure, as fostering damping, decay¬ 
ing, &c., is the coddling system of keeping cuttings shut u] 
always in a close atmosphere. Where much propagating ha3 t< 
be clone the ability to look at this in a common sense view i 
worth more than the price of any ten volumes of this work. I 
close atmosphere until the cuttings root, has been, until of late 
a rather general practice. That more rotting, and damping, an< 
fogging did not take place in a poisonous atmosphere was owin. 
