PROPAGATION. 2o3 



which is best done by walking on a board laid on the cov- 

 ered drill, or else by the use of a garden roller. If the 

 entire cutting-bed were well sprinkled with fine compost, and 

 then covered so lightly — from one quarter to half an inch 

 — with a mulch of straw that the shoots could come through 

 it without hindrance, scarcely a cutting would fail. Unfailing 

 moisture, without wetness, is what a cutting requires. 



Roots may be divided into half-inch bits, if forced under 

 glass, and in this way nurserymen often speedily provide 

 themselves with large stocks of very scarce varieties. The 

 cuttings are placed in boxes of sand until the callus forms, 

 and litde buds appear on the surface of the roots, for which 

 processes about five weeks are required. They are then 

 sown in shallow boxes containing about three inches of soil, 

 formed of equal parts of sand and decayed leaves, and sub- 

 jected to the heat of the green-house. When they have 

 formed plants from three to five inches high, they may be 

 potted, if very valuable ; or, if the weather is warm enough, 

 they can be transplanted at once into the open nursery-bed, 

 as one would a strawberry plant. I have set out many thou- 

 sands in this way, only aiming to keep a little earth clinging 

 to the roots as I took them from the shallow box. Plants 

 grown from cuttings are usually regarded as the best ; but 

 if a sucker plant is taken up with fibrous roots, I should 

 regard it as equally good. 



If we wish to try our fortune in originating new varieties, 

 we gather the largest and earliest berries, dry them, and 

 plant the seeds the following spring ; or we may separate 

 the seeds from the pulp by expressing it and mixing them 

 with dry sand, until they are in a condition to be sown 

 evenly in a sheltered place at once. As with strawberries, 

 they should be raked lightly into moist, rich soil, the surface 

 of which should not be allowed to become dry and hard. 



