IN FLORIDA 29 
a span roof and run north and south, or a lean-to and run east 
and west facing the south. A concrete wall six inches thick is 
built facing both sides of the trench, leaving a passageway two 
feet wide the length of the pit. This should be carried up at 
intervals of perhaps six feet in the form of posts to support side 
benches and the roof. It is best to make the benches of rein- 
forced concrete, since nothing below the surface of the ground 
can then decay. The roof can be made of sashes which should 
be hinged above and lifted below for ventilation. It needs a 
door in one end and steps to descend to it. If one of the benches 
or a part of it is screened off in front with fertilizer sacks during 
cold weather and one or more lamps or a small oil stove is put 
in and lighted a fine bottom heat may be kept up, furnishing ideal 
conditions for rooting cuttings, starting seeds, or for small or 
delicate plants. There should bea pipe or some kind of a venti- 
lator leading from this space out to the open air. Sucha building 
may be ten feet wide over all. Of course one can build a regular 
glass house with hot water pipes if he wishes. 
It is always well to keep in such a place one or more extra 
plants of rare, tender things. If one cannot have any kind of a 
propagating house he can put in cuttings or sow seeds in flats or 
shallow boxes, either in the house or a sheltered, partly shaded 
place. It is almost absolutely necessary that such a propagating 
arrangement should be protected from all wind. 
A majority of the plants which succeed in the latitude of Flor- 
ida when planted in the open, bear seeds which will germinate 
and produce healthy seedlings, and in general raising plants by 
such means is the quickest and best way to propagate. Young 
seedlings need some sun and the boxes in which they are grown 
should be turned around occasionally to keep them from being 
drawn. It is best when they have three or four leaves to trans- 
plant them into separate pots, or tin cans having a hole punched 
in the bottom will do. From pots they can be turned out with- 
out greatly disturbing the ball of earth around their roots. If 
in a can, it should be struck against some hard object several 
times to loosen the contents. 
One is likely to receive the seeds of tropical plants at any time 
during the winter and such seeds, as a rule, should be planted at 
