and when it is so said, the terms are at once understood. Propagating by cuttings is usually practised in the spring months; and as soon in that season as the young shoots are long enough for the purpose. This season is not only favourable as the awakening time of vegetable life, but allows cuttings rooted at this time. the benefit of the genial season of summer. The pots used are thirty-twos; besides are required potsherds for drainage, a compost of light maiden loam. and turfy heath-mould or peat, well mixed but not sifted, and some pure, white, fine sand. A good drainage of potsherds, gravel, or cinders is first put in, then small lumps of turf; then the pot is filled with finer compost to within one inch and a half of the rim, and above these an inch of sand, to form the surface. If loose and dry, a little watering will render them compact. Bell or striking-glasses are made for the use of the propagator, and should always fit within the rim of the pot. These preparations made, the cuttings are then collected and got ready. They should be all, as near as can be, of the same size and age, and put together in the same pot, so as to receive the same treatment. In preparing the cuttings, whatever may be their length, one-third at least of the lower end is stripped of its leaves, allowing those at the top to remain entire. The bottom should be cut transversely, close below a joint or bud, and without fracture of the bark. Thus prepared, the cuttings are carefully dibbed into the sand, and not too thickly together; after which they receive a watering, to consolidate the sand about them. So soon as the moisture is evaporated from the cuttings and surface of the pot, the glass is put on, and pressed closely down to exclude the air. The process of the formation of fibrous roots from the base of a cutting is curious, and may be easily seen by using a glass tumbler instead of a common pot. When the cutting, placed close to the side, has been put in for a few days or for a week, the first sign of life is the protrusion or oozing out of the member lying between the bark and the fibrous or woody part of the stem. This swelling projection sooner or later is resolved into slender fibres, which spread themselves in the soil to absorb food, and at the same time a growing movement is seen above-a sure indication that the cutting can henceforth provide for itself. The use of the glass in striking cuttings is to afford subdued light, and yet defend the rootless shoot from the changes of the open air. If the latter be too dry or too moist, the cuttings would be either rotted or withered; and if the former were too intense, they would be parched, without the glass. To prevent sunburning, a shade of brown paper should be used in bright weather. THE SCARLET MONKEY-FLOWER. Mimulus, L. Mimule, Fr. Der Gaukler, Ger. Potzer, Dut. Mimulo, THE Monkey-Flower, or Mimulus, received its name from the resemblance which the fruit of the seeds bears to the face of a grinning monkey. All the species are very showy plants, and are of the easiest cultivation in nearly any soil or situation. The Scarlet Monkey-flower (M. cardinalis) is a splendid annual, growing two feet high, and spreading its showy scarlet flowers in the eye of day in the months of July, August, and September. It is propagated by seeds in common garden soil. It was brought from North-west America in 1835. The whole plant is shaggy, with long, loose hair; the leaves, which are egg-shaped, and have their margins toothed as though bitten, clasp the stem. The footstalks of the flowers are as long as the leaves; the calyx is large, inflated, tubular, plaited with ovate, acute teeth. It is in the Linnæan class Didynamia, and order Angiospermia, and in the natural order Scrophularineæ. The north-western coast of America was not discovered so early as the other parts of the continent. It was supposed, indeed, that it was not actually separated from Asia, but the eastern extremity of Asia was discovered in 1728, by Behring, who gave his name to the straits which divide the continents from each other. He observed the land extending to the north-west, but did not find any part of America. It seems to have been reserved for a Cossack, from Kamschatka, to notice this coast, along which he sailed for a short time. Behring, who had discovered the straits, accompanied by Tchirikoff, was sent, in the year 1741, with instructions to survey the coast carefully. The two companions were by some means separated. Behring effected a landing at about latitude 58°. He tried to extend his survey as far as 65°, but without success, and was compelled to winter on one of the Aleutian Islands, and at last lost his life through the severity of the weather. Tchirikoff saw the land, but losing two boats while seeking to hold intercourse with the natives, he made his way home again. On the strength of Tchirikoff having seen the land somewhere about 55°, the Russians claim and hold possession of the continent north of that latitude. I HORSFALL'S IPOMOEA. Ipomoea, L. Le Quamoclit, Fr. Die Trichterwinde, Ger. Trechterwinde, Dut. Ipomea, It., Sp., and Port. THE Ipomoeas are a beautiful genus of plants, chiefly twining, and requiring generally a stove in our climate. They are of the easiest culture, and flower with great freedom. The name has been given to them on account of their resemblance to our common bindweed. The Greek word nos is supposed to be the name of a bindweed, and compounding this with ouos, like or ομοις, similar, we have the word Ipomoea, a latinized form of a Greek compound. The first species appears to have been introduced into England in 1597, from America; and we have now a large number of species from the East and West Indies, North and South America, China, Ceylon, and elsewhere, nearly all of which are of a highly ornamental character. The tuberous-rooted (I. tuberosa) Ipomoea is remarked as a plant of singular beauty and great fragrance. In the island of Jamaica it is evergreen, and as its palmate leaves are thickly crowded together, and the whole is profusely clad with large, pale, yellow flowers, it is at once a |