APPENDIX 225 



duces us to believe that these are not indispensable. I will 



only say in this connection, that anyone who understands 

 the conditions under which cuttings root, can accomplish 

 the work by a hot-bed, or along the front bench of a green- 

 house, with the flue or pipes running underneath, with 

 perfect success ; although he could do so more rapidly and 

 with less attention in a Propagating-house, fitted u]) with 

 all the "modern improvements." While, on the other 

 hand, the gardener that goes to work without a knowl- 

 edge of these conditions, though provided with the best 

 Propagating-house that ever was planned, Avill most cer- 

 tainly fail, or, at least, will not have that unvarying success 

 that the man who knows his business ever should have. 



Propagation by cuttings is always most successful be- 

 tween the months of October and April, from the fact thai 

 during that jieriod we have the necessary low atmospheric 

 temperature, which I will endeavor to show is necessary to 

 complete success. 



Our favorite system of propagating is by using cuttings 

 of the "young wood," that is, young shoots that are 

 formed by starting the plants in a green-house temperature, 

 averaging from 40° to 60°. The proper condition of the 

 cutting is easily determined by a little experience. In the 

 case of Roses, the best are "blind shoots," that is, the short 

 shoots that do not show flower-buds ; and the time when 

 they are of the proper degree of hardness is determined 

 by the flower-buds on the plant just beginning to develope. 

 But with bedding plants, generally, we never can get the 

 cuttings too soft, provided that they have not been grown 

 in a high temperature, and a close atmosphere. The tops 

 of the young shoots are always best, although, if an elong- 

 10* 



