PBOPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTIXGS. 89 



Double Zinnias, These, like Petunias or Balsams, can 

 be raised to flower by August if sown in the open 

 ground, but if sown under glass in April will flower in 

 June and throughout the entire season, making larger 

 and finer plants. There are few plants that have im- 

 proved so much as the Zinnia, and we have now dazzling, 

 scarlets, yellow, orange, lilac, rose, white, and crimson- 

 rivaling the Dahlia in symmetry of form. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 



Of all the operations of the florist, the one above all 

 others in importance is the propagation of plants by cut- 

 tings. It is the fount from which the supply must come, 

 and becomes inexhaustible in the hands of a careful 

 operator. I say a careful operator, rather than a skillful 

 one, for, in my estimation, a great amount of knowledge 

 is not so necessary to success as that a never-flagging, 

 careful application of that knowledge should be made. 

 A careful man, who has had the run of a propagating 

 establishment for one year, and who has kept his eyes and 

 ears open, will have acquired a theoretical and practical 

 knowledge of the business sufficient to enable him to 

 operate with success, provided he is of fair intelligence 

 and studious habits. On the other hand, we find hundreds 

 who have spent the best part of their lives in the trade, 

 whose careless character renders useless the knowledge 

 possessed, when this branch of horticulture is placed in 

 their charge. 



I have long held the opinion that the necessary knowl- 

 edge to successfully propagate plants by cuttings is very 



