AUGUST: FIRST WEEK 197 



so that water will drain through it readily, and well sup- 

 plied with lime so it will not sour. Make a compost of about 

 equal parts of friable garden loam or sod shavings and 

 thoroughly decomposed manure. Old manure from the 

 hot-beds, or emptyings from flats, is best. If the soil is very 

 heavy, mix with it a little sand. A good dressing of wood 

 ashes, which contain enough lime to keep the mixture thor- 

 oughly sweet, should be added, and also some bone dust. 

 Two or three quarts of wood ashes and a pint or so of ground 

 bone may be added to each bushel of the compost. This 

 soil should be kept in a shed or in a barrel and soaked occa- 

 sionally to keep it at an even degree of moisture. 



Cuttings may be rooted readily at this time of the year, 

 but care must be taken that they do not dry out. A con- 

 venient method is to mix half a bushel or a bushel of sand in 

 a few square feet of the seed bed and to place the cuttings 

 in this, keeping them shaded lightly overhead all the time, 

 but with a free access for air. Trim the cuttings back well, 

 as loss of water through transpiration is very great at this 

 time of the year. 



In starting a few dozen plants the saucer system is the 

 most convenient: Take a shallow, water-tight dish and put 

 in three inches of clean sand. Add water until it comes 

 barely to the surface of the sand. Insert the cuttings in this. 

 The sand must be kept thoroughly saturated, which will 

 mean adding water every day in hot or windy weather. 



Making New Rubber Plants 



Rubber plants that have become too tall or have become 

 leafless at the bottoms of the stalks may be made over by 

 what is termed Chinese layering, or rooting in the air: 

 Select a point in the stem several inches below the lowest 

 leaves, or wherever the remaining upper portion of the stalk 

 will make a shapely plant, and with a sharp knife make a 

 slanting cut two-thirds through. Place in this cut a little 

 live sphagnum moss, which can be gathered in most swampy 

 places, or obtained from any local florist. Bind on with soft 



