Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/228

210 The cuttings strike with greater freedom this way than they would do if they were surrounded by soil only. After the cuttings are inserted, place the pots in a position where they are exposed to the full light and air, for no close coddling must be attempted, or the cuttings will very soon damp off, especially if the soil is kept too moist. A greenhouse shelf fully exposed to the sun, and a mat thrown over the glass, to break the full force of its rays and prevent them from being burnt up before they have formed roots, are probably the most favorable conditions to ensure their striking quickly. The branches can also be cut up into lengths and struck, if a number of plants are wanted, and the stock of growing points is limited.

After the cuttings are rooted, they must be put into small pots, and there remain during the winter. In the spring, shift into pots two sizes larger, and give them a little encouragement for a few weeks by placing them in a growing temperature, about ten degrees higher than that of the cold greenhouse. Directly the plants begin to make fresh roots into the new soil, nip the points off, and when the pots are full of roots, and the plants require a second shift, they can be either put singly into larger pots, or about three plants potted in one large one. The latter method is preferable, as a large specimen can be obtained quicker, and with less trouble, than by growing them on singly. The plants should now have all the light and air possible, for upon the maturity of the wood depends in a great measure the quantity of bloom the following summer. The drainage of the pots should be perfect, and water applied rather liberally when the plants are growing freely, but sparingly during the time they are at rest through the winter; just sufficient, in fact, to keep the foliage from shrivelling.

From the first the side-shoots must be neatly tied out, to keep them in their places, and prevent their snapping off, which they are very liable to when shifting the plant about. Immediately the beauty of the flowers is gone, cut the plants down in a somewhat similar manner to that in which pelargoniums are usually cut back after flowering. Give a little extra warmth to induce them to break quickly, and when the young shoots are about an inch in length take the plants out of the pots, remove a portion of the old soil, and repot in a clean pot the same size as that from which it was taken. No exact rule can be laid down as to how low each shoot should