32 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



form and penetrate the moss and the layer can be cut off and 

 planted. 



The process of inarching is rarely resorted to in the propagation 

 of ornamentals and the same is true with budding and grafting 

 in Florida. Full instructions for these operations can be found 

 in any good work on gardening. Some of the palms send up 

 suckers from or near the ground and these often send out roots 

 but it is sometimes difficult to make them grow when they are 

 cut off. If one will make an incision at the base of a sucker, set 

 a pot or box of earth under it, digging out below if necessary, he 

 can catch these roots and when the plant is established cut off the 

 connection with the parent. In this way not only palm suckers 

 but a variety of others, even limbs of trees, may be made into 

 fine plants. 



The entire process of propagation and all that is connected 

 with it are among the most delightful experiences of the plant 

 lover and gardener. What joy can be sweeter than actually to 

 witness the creation of living organisms, to see the plumules 

 pushing their way up through the earth? What is there more 

 delightful than to feel that these dear little things are your very 

 own, that, in partnership with nature, you have helped to bring 

 them into existence? Only a true lover of plants can ever feel 

 the pleasure of digging up a cutting he has planted and finding 

 at its base a heavy white callus, or the delicate, young, soft 

 roots pushing out. He realizes that in his hand he holds the pos- 

 sibility, perhaps, of a noble and beautiful tree which may live 

 through generations, to cheer and bless mankind long after he 

 has passed away. 



