On the Care of House-Plants.
The soil of house-plants should be renewed every year, as previously directed. In Winter, they should be kept as dry as they can be without wilting. Many house-plants are injured by giving them too much water, when they have little light and fresh air. This makes them grow spindling. The more fresh air, warmth, and light, they have, the more water is needed. They ought not to be kept very warm in Winter, nor exposed to great changes of atmosphere. Forty degrees is a proper temperature for plants in Winter, when they have little sun and air. When plants have become spindling, cut off their heads, entirely, and cover the pot in the earth, where it has the morning sun, only. A new and flourishing head will spring out. Few house-plants can bear the sun at noon. When insects infest plants, set them in a closet, or under a barrel, and burn tobacco. The smoke kills any insect enveloped in it. When plants are frozen, cold water, and a gradual restoration of warmth, are the best remedies. Never use very cold water for plants, at any season.
FOOTNOTE:
[T] His 'Farmers' Companion' was written expressly for the larger series of 'The School Library,' issued by the publishers of this volume.
CHAPTER XXXV.
ON THE PROPAGATION OF PLANTS.
Bulbous roots are propagated by offsets; some growing on the top, others around the sides. Many plants are propagated by cutting off twigs, and setting them in earth, so that two or three eyes are covered. To do this, select a side shoot, ten inches long, two inches of it, being of the preceding year's growth, and the rest, the growth of the season when it is set out. Do this, when the sap is running, and put a piece of crockery at the bottom of the shoot, when it is buried. One eye, at least, must be under the soil. Water it, and shade it in hot weather. Plants are also propagated by layers. To do this, take a shoot, which comes up near the root, bend it down, so as to bring several eyes under the soil, leaving the top above ground. If the shoot be cut half through, in a slanting direction, at one of these eyes, before burying it, the result is more certain. Roses, honeysuckles, and many other shrubs, are readily propagated thus. They will generally take root, by being simply buried; but cutting them, as here directed, is the best method. Layers are more certain than cuttings. For all woody plants, budding and grafting are favorite methods of propagation. In all such plants, there is an outer and inner bark; the latter containing the sap vessels, in which the nourishment of the tree ascends.
The success of grafting, or inoculating, consists in so placing the bud or graft, that the sap vessels of the inner bark shall exactly join those of the plant into which they are grafted, so that the sap may pass from one into the other.
The following are directions for budding, which may be performed at any time from July to September.
Select a smooth place, on the stock into which you are to insert the bud. Make a horizontal cut, across the rind, through to the firm wood; and from the middle of this, make a slit downward, perpendicularly, an inch or more long, through to the wood. Raise the bark of the stock, on each side of the perpendicular cut, for the admission of the bud, as is shown in the annexed engraving, (Fig. [40].) Then take a shoot of this year's growth, and slice from it a bud, taking an inch below and an inch above it, and some portion of the wood under it. Then carefully slip off the woody part, under the bud. Examine whether the eye or gem of the bud be perfect. If a little hole appears in that part, the bud has lost its root, and another must be selected. Insert the bud, so that a, of the bud, shall pass to a, of the stock; then b, of the bud, must be cut off, to match the cut, b, in the stock, and fitted exactly to it, as it is this alone which insures success. Bind the parts, with fresh bass, or woollen yarn, beginning a little below the bottom of the perpendicular slit, and winding it closely round every part, except just over the eye of the bud, until you arrive above the horizontal cut. Do not bind it too tightly, but just sufficient to exclude air, sun, and wet. This is to be removed, after the bud is firmly fixed, and begins to grow.