=Soils and General Methods.=--Soil for all cuttings should be well-drained. It should not be so compact as to hold a great quantity of water, nor should it be so loose as to dry out very quickly. It should not "bake" or form a crust on its surface. As a rule, especially for cuttings made of growing parts, the soil should not contain vegetable matter, as such material holds too much water and it is often directly injurious to the cutting. A coarse sharp, clean sand is the best material for use in-doors. Very fine sand packs too hard, and should not be used. Some propagators prefer to use fine gravel, composed of particles from an eighth to a fourth of an inch in diameter, and from which all fine material has been washed. This answers well for green cuttings if a propagating-frame is used to check evaporation and attention is given to watering, because drainage is so perfect and the material so quickly permeable that uniformity of treatment is secured. Damping-off is less liable to occur in such material than in denser soils. The same advantages are to some extent present in sphagnum moss and cocoanut fibre, both of which are sometimes used in place of earth. The "silver sand" used by florists is a very clean and white sand which derives its particular advantages from the almost entire absence of any vegetable matter. But it is not now considered so essential to successful propagation as it was formerly, and fully as good material may often be found in a common sand-bank. Cuttings which strike strongly and vigorously may be placed in a soil made of light garden loam with twice its bulk of sand added to it. All soils used for in-door cuttage should be sifted or screened before using to bring them to a uniform texture. Hard-wood cuttings are commonly planted out-doors in mellow and light loam, well trenched. Only fine and well-rotted manure should be applied to the cutting bed, and it should be well mixed with the soil. In most cases, a well-drained soil gives best results, but some cuttings root and grow well in wet soils or even in standing water, as poplars, willows, some of the dogwoods, plane-tree and others.