THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 17, 1860. 
213 
their own dear selves. Would suoli men feel a sympathy with 
them in raising plants from leaves ns by any other means? and 
what would pleasure be without a sharer of our joy ? 
It is now many years since our attention was directed to the 
raising of plants from leaves, from seeing that the leaves of the 
Bryophyllum calycinum, that fell from the plant, and rested on 
the soil of the pot, instead of withering up, ere long presented a 
perfect colony of young plants all round the edges of the leaf. 
When the leaf was divided into several parts, the young little 
plants came also from the cut parts, but not so freely as from the 
edge of the leaf. The leaf of this plant is thick and succulent, 
and endowed with a wondrous power of reproduction. This fact 
observed led to many experiments with leaves, which were deeply 
interesting to me then, but which would not be generally in¬ 
teresting now. 
As a general rule, thick, fleshy, succulent leaves, that form a 
fleshy underground stem or root, or bulb or tuber, are the best 
for this purpose. Without these conditions there is little diffi¬ 
culty in forming roots, but there is next to an impossibility in 
getting these roots to form buds so as to secure a plant. Thus 
we have rooted Vine, Cucumber, and Melon leaves, &c., in 
abundance; but when the leaf decayed, the roots also began 
gradually to decay, without forming a bud as the embryo of a 
future shoot. 
There is no great difficulty in getting leaves of the succulent 
Scarlet Geraniums to fill small pots with roots, but I was not 
successful in getting plants from them. Our good friend, Mr. 
Beaton, has told us bow to raise such Scarlet Geraniums from 
leaves. But I rather suspect there was a little bit of the stem along 
with the base of the leaf; and therefore, if that were the case, the 
increase in plants was owing to propagating by leaves and buds 
united, rather than by leaves alone. I have found much the 
same thing in Dahlias. The leaves will root freely enough, and 
that without forming any tuber; and even when a tuber is 
formed, it is seldom that fertile buds will be formed on it. When 
the leaf was out off, however, with a small piece of the stem at its 
base, and thus enclosing in its axil an embryo bud, small 
tubers would be formed, and a Bhoot would be produced. 
My impression is, that we can hardly be guided by analogy as 
to what leaves may or may not be successfully treated for 
raising young plants, until we actually try them by experiment. 
Next to the Bryophyllum, the Gloxinia, the Gesnera, and 
Begonia may be most successfully raised and propagated by 
their leaves; and those with the thickest, most succulent leaves 
may be most depended on. Those, also, that have a sort of conn- 
tuber, or underground fleshy stem, will be the surest to succeed. 
I will shortly describe three modes of propagation, and leave it 
to your own judgment and circumstances to decide which plan 
will suit you best. 
The first is the best and easiest mode for securing strong, 
healthy plants from leaves, when you wish to have merely one 
plant from a leaf. In this case select leaves of small size rather 
than large—say about half their full size; slip them off close, or 
near, to the stem with a sharp knife, and allow the cut to get dry 
by exposure, while the top of the leaf is kept moist and shaded 
to prevent it flagging at all. Then prepare four or five-inch pots, 
by filling them half full of drainage ; then put in a little sandy 
loam and peat; and over all fully one inch of silver sand, pressed 
down pretty closely. Insert these leaves by fixing their stems 
close to the sides of the pot, and the leaves leaning towards the 
' centre, and settle them by watering. If the leaves are topheavy 
put a small stick in the centre of the pot to keep them up. It 
is to guard against this that we advise rather small but firmish 
leaves in preference to older ones. 'Water so as to fix all in their 
place firmly, and then put the pot, or pots, where they will re¬ 
ceive a close, moist, shaded heat. After March or April, the leaf- 
cuttings will do in the shaded, close part of a hothouse at work, 
such as placing them behind a large pot, and damping the leaves 
occasionally during the day without saturating the soil. A hot¬ 
bed, however, would be the best place for them ; and if a moist, 
i close, shaded-from-bright-sun heat is given them, no bell-glasses 
or hand-lights will be wanted, and strong tubers may be expected 
, before the end of the summer, which, after being rested a little, 
i; will grow strongly next season whenever they arc excited by heat 
and moisture. 
The second plan is a medium between the first and the third, 
and by which it is desirable to get some half dozen or more plants 
from a leaf. In this case the pots are prepared in a similar 
manner ; only the surface of the pot must bear some proportion 
to the size of the leaf when laid flat down over the sand. The 
practice may be so managed that one leaf may cover the surface 
of the pot; or several leaves may bo laid down on the sand on 
the surfaco of a larger one. In this case the leafstalk is cut 
within an eighth or a quarter of an inch of the base of the leuf. 
You then turn the lower side of the leaf uppermost, and with 
your knife make a number of incisions where the largo veins meet 
and cross each other—say from five to ten cuts on a good-sized 
leaf. The cuts are just notches, as it were, on the chief and 
subsidiary midribs. The short stump of the leafstalk is then 
inserted obliquely close to the side of the pot, whilst the under 
side of the leaf lies close on the sand. To keep the notched parts 
especially close to the sand, the leaf is kept down by putting some 
very small wooden pegs through the leaf and into the sand. We 
prefer them smaller than ladies’ hair-pins. We frequently also 
let a dust of sand lie over the cut parts on the upper side of the 
leaf. Moisture is given to settle all. The tuber from the stalk 
end of the leaf will generally be the largest; but mostly fine, 
healthy little tubers will bo formed at every notched part, and 
even at times on places not notched. These pots must have 
rather more attention given as to a close, shaded, moist atmo¬ 
sphere ; but taking care that extra moisture is not given, or the 
leaf will be apt to decay. If the leaves get extra dry they are apt 
to Bhrivel up before the small tubers are formed. A hotbed or 
hothouse will do for this plan as well as the first; but placing 
the pots together under a handlight will enable you to give them 
a moist atmosphere by day ; and giving air at night by tilting 
the glass will guard against the evils of damping. 
The third plan will enable you to make many plants out of a 
leaf; and though presenting no difficulties in the first stages, 
requires more attention afterwards to command success. Eor 
instance : take a fair-sized leaf of a Gloxinia ; run a sharp knife 
up the centre of its midrib, thus dividing it in two ; then begin 
at the midrib, and cut the half leaf from what was the centre to 
the side into little narrow pieces—say from an eighth to a quarter 
an inch in width, and an inch or so in length ; do the same with 
the other half; and these strips will just be so many cuttings. 
In a large leaf, such as some of the fine-marked-foliaged Begonias, 
you may make several centres from the larger subdivisions of the 
leaf. Even this is not absolutely required, as I have cut a leaf 
at random into pieces, and these pieces grew. Still, just as in 
cuttings in genera], we cut to a joint, because, among other 
reasons, we believe that the vital principle is more active there 
than in the spaces between the joints, so we have an idea that the 
vital powers are more likely to be active at the ehiet and sub¬ 
sidiary ribs of the leaf than in the open spaces; and therefore we 
prefer that part to be at the base of the portion we insert in the 
sand of the cutting-pot. More care is required to succeed by 
this plan; and a hotbed, sweet bottom heat, and bell-glasses for 
each pot are more necessary. If the little tiny bits are kept too 
dry, or if the sun strikes them powerfully, they will shrivel and 
bid you good-bye; and if kept too moist, and the air too con¬ 
fined, they will rot and fade away. Great care, therefore, will bo 
required to give them a stimulating heat, a closeish atmosphere, 
and shade from bright sun during the day ; and to prevent 
damping, edge up the side of the bell-glass a little at night. The 
extra pains will be well repaid in the pleasure of thus securing a 
great number of little tubers of a desirable variety, most of which 
will bloom the following season after being duly ripened and 
rested. 
I will only add one word more. The Gloxinias and Gesneras 
mostly like a period of complete rest—that is, next to perfect 
inaction for several months in the year. During that period, 
after the tops die down and are withered, the soil should be 
dryish, not dust dry, and the temperature cool, but not below 45’ 
for any length of time. Y'oung small tubers should be kept 
moister and warmer the first year. When either begin to grow, 
then is the best time to shift them into heated, well-aired soil. 
The soil most suitable for young plants is sandy heath soil, ancl 
a portion cf sweet, well-decomposed tree leaves. As the tubers 
advance in age add a portion of fibry loam and very rotten cow- 
dung. The fleshy-rooted Begonias may also be kept dryish and 
low in winter, but not so dry and low as Gloxinias. Of course, 
those iutended to bloom in winter must be kept in a warm, moist 
atmosphere. Fisn. 
CAN A KOSE BE ALTEEED BY ITS STOCK? 
I expect you will laugh at me and say I have been hum¬ 
bugged. But is it possible ? 
Two years since a neighbouring brother clergyman brought 
