PROPAGATION. 259 



must be an uninterrupted growth of top and 

 bottom. In the mean time, the plants must be 

 carefully watered, tied up, athallized, and grad 

 ually hardened by exposure and the admission 

 of more air daily. 



In the best arranged places the plants, when 

 sufficiently advanced, are moved to unheated 

 houses, with movable top sashes, which are more 

 or less opened or entirely removed, as may best 

 secure the health and ripening of the cane and 

 roots. Sometimes the plants are turned out of 

 the pots and planted in the borders of this 

 house. At other times they are planted in the 

 open air. There are a great many advantages 

 gained by the use of the &quot; hardening off&quot; house, 

 as it may be called, chief among which are these : 

 the plants can at any moment be secured against 

 sudden and unfavorable changes of weather, and 

 the ill consequences that always follow such 

 changes ; and if the season proves short, with 

 early frosts, the sashes can be put on, and two 

 or three weeks gained in this way for the perfect 

 ripening of the plant. These advantages can 

 scarcely be overestimated by those who buy 

 plants. It is very seldom that they are secured 

 by open air propagation of any kind. Fig. 



