32 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Strong said that with the temperature of soil at about 42°, 

 grapes could be forced without covering the border. He had 

 ripened a ton in May, with only a covering of manure. We can 

 stimulate the growth of plants by using warm water. 



Marshall P.' Wilder was gratified with the remarks of the last 

 speaker. He had, himself, no roses in his greenhouse, except 

 those planted on the outside, and as he covered the border only a 

 few inches in depth it must frequently' be frozen, and a portion of 

 the roots must be frozen. The old rule was that water should be 

 kept in tanks until it acquired the temperature of the atmosphere 

 before watering, and he disapproved of pumping up cold water and 

 immediatelj' using it indiscriminately on all plants. He was pleased 

 with the remarks of the essa3ist in regard to flues ; he had used no 

 other method of heating his cutting beds, except experimentall}'. 



N. B. White asked. Will plants thrive in frozen earth? Are they 

 not conductors of heat, and do they not thaw the soil? It seemed 

 impossible to him that a plant could grow in frozen soil. 



M. H. Merriam came in feeling much interest in the subject of 

 the discussion, and wanting to know the principles which govern the 

 application of bottom heat ; but while the essayist and others had 

 given us many interesting facts, they had not given us the princi- 

 ples which underlie those facts, and which the speaker thought 

 highly important that we should understand. The ripened wood of 

 roses is not treated the same as soft wood, and what we lack is a 

 knowledge of the philosophy which controls propagation by cut- 

 tings of different degrees of maturit}', and accounts for this differ- 

 ence in treatment. If the novice attempts to learn from books, he 

 will find that they disagree ; some say that the temperature of 

 water is of little consequence, while others consider it of great im- 

 portance. The speaker believed in the individuality- of ever}' plant. 

 The conditions under which a plant grows naturall}^ are to be con- 

 sidered. Nature propagates mainly through seed, while propaga- 

 tion by cuttings is an artificial method, and we must inquire into 

 the conditions under which it is best effected, and apply our best 

 resources to bring about these conditions. He had had experience 

 as an amateur in propagation b^' cuttings, and had been flatteringly 

 successful. His propagating bed was on a bench with hot water 

 pipes underneath, closely enclosed ; the bed was also enclosed 

 above, and had ventilators to control the admission of air above 

 and below. Out of one thousand cuttings of Bon Silene rose he 



