Or, syringe the plants with this mixture: put into a jar five gallons of spring water and four ounces of chloride of lime, to which add four ounces of vitriol; when the lime is precipitated, pour off the clear solution, and keep it air-tight.
Or, mix coal tar and water, and sprinkle it over the infected plants.
776. To Propagate Plants.—It may be received as a general principle, that all plants which produce shoots may be propagated by cuttings; though some plants are much more difficult to propagate in this manner than others. Generally speaking, all the soft-wooded plants which have abundance of sap, such as geraniums, fuchsias, petunias, and verbenas, strike root readily. The usual mode for striking cuttings is to put them in fine sand, and to cover them with a bell-glass. Some cuttings which are difficult to strike are directed to have bottom heat; that is, the pots in which they are planted should be plunged into a hot-bed, that the stimulus afforded by the heat may induce the cuttings to throw out roots.
777. Plants watered by being placed in Dishes, improper.—The practice of placing flats or saucers under plants, and feeding them by the roots, that is, pouring the water continually into these dishes, and never on the earth at top, is highly improper. The water should always be poured on the surface of the earth, that it may filter completely through it, to the benefit and refreshment of the fibres.
778. When to plant Annual and Perennial Flowers.—Many kinds of annuals and perennials, sown in March and the beginning of April, will be fit for transplanting about the end of May, and may either be planted in patches about borders, or in beds, as fancy shall direct. Of these, the kinds improved by transplanting are, amaranthuses, China asters, columbines, French and African marigolds, fox-gloves, hollyhocks, India pinks, love-lies-bleeding, mallows, mignonette, prince's feather, scabious, stocks, sun-flowers, sweet-williams, wall-flowers, and others. They should be planted out in a showery time, if possible, or otherwise be frequently watered, till they have struck root.