Richard Bradley, in the last century, published a translation from the Dutch of Agricola, on the "Propagation of Plants by Leaves," in which it was asserted that, by the aid of a mastic invented by the author, the leaves of any plant dipped at the stalk end into this preparation, would immediately strike root; the book was adorned with copper-plates, exhibiting both the process and its result, in the form of fields stock full of orange leaves growing into trees.

This is absurd enough, yet it originated in the discovery that the mere leaves of some plants will grow under special circumstances - a fact often supposed to be much more rare than it is. Rochea falcata, the orange, the aucuba, and the fig, are named, by Professor Morren, as instances of leaves which will multiply their leaves; the power of Bryophillum to do the same thing, is a familiar example. Echeveria grow immediately from the leaves that naturally fall off even its fiower-6talk8. Hedwig found the leaves of the Crown Imperial, put into a plant-press, produce bulbs from their surface. The Ornithogalum thyrsoideum, the Theo-phrasta, the Cardamine pratensis, are said to be cultivated thus. Ferns, especially the Woodwardia radicans, do the same. It is even said, by Turpin, that watercress leaves, cut up by a bird for its nest, "produce presently from their base and below the common petiole, at first two or three colorless roots, then, in their centre, a small, conical bad, from which successively arise all the aerial parts of a new water-cress plant, while the roots multiply and lengthen.

* I mean by the neck the bottom of the trunk, just at the surface of the ground, where the roots start out.

M. Flourens also mentions a case of Purslane, whose leaves, divided into three, produced as many new plants, each having a root, stem, and leaves. In the Transactions of the London Horticul- * tural Society, is an account of a Zamia, each of whose scales (see figure below) produced a new plant, when the central part of the stem was decayed.

Some leaves of mint (Mentha piperita) were planted, without any portion of the substance of the stems upon which they had grown, in small pots, and subjected to artificial heat under glass. They emitted roots, and lived more than twelve, months, having natural roots.

In gardens, we have many instances of the same kind. Hoya, or the wax plant, is a common instance; Gesnera, Clianthus puni-cens, Gloxinia speciosa, are also well known, but it is probable that most leaves, when separated from their parent, are incapable of doing so for reasons which we are not yet able to explain. The scales of a bulb will, with some certainty, produce new plants under favorable circumstances, viz: a strong bottom heat, moderate moisture, and a rich, stimulating soil.

Leaves intended for cuttings, should be taken from about the middle of a branch. Gloxinia, Bryophillum, Lilies, Ac, may be experimented upon by the a If we wish to get mateur on very quickly, the midrib on the lower face of the leaf may be broken in several places, without injuring the limb, and so lightly that the broken places can scarcely be distinguished; the lower face of the leaf is then placed on the earth of a pot. Soon at each fracture a little callus develops itself, which gives rise to roots as seen on next page, c. Some leaves, when employed as cuttings, send out roots and buds at each incision, as in Hemionitis palmata, Bryophillum, etc.; d, shows how this effect is produced. Time is required to accomplish this, and especial attention must be paid to burying the end of the petiole, or the base of the leaf; e, represents Theophrasta latifolia with its leaf cut in two, which struck and developed buds; the dotted part, shown in the upper half of the leaf, e, was removed, in order to put the leaf into a little pot, but this did not prevent the success of the cutting.

The above is abridged from Dr. Lindley's new edition of his "Theory of Horticulture." a, indicates at what place we may cut the leaf without hurting the plant; the leaf being placed in the earth forms a callus at its base, b, whence the roots, and, consequently, more shoots, spring up.

Scale of Zamia sprouting.