388 THE PRINCIPLES OF FLORICULTURE 



635. Propagation. The most common method of 

 propagating rubber plants is known as " top layering." 

 Old, bushy stock plants are used as parents, and are kept in 

 a night temperature of 60 to 75. When the young shoots 

 are five or six inches long, a slanting cut is made upward 

 about half way through the stem. A small piece of wood 

 is inserted to keep the cut open. A large handful of finely 

 divided sphagnum moss is placed around the branch to 

 cover the cut, and is made moderately firm with twine or 

 raffia. The moss is kept constantly moist. The roots of 

 the young plant usually appear on the outside of this oval- 

 shaped bunch of moss. The entire branch is then cut off 

 below the moss, and the young plant potted. A small pot 

 is used for this first potting, and the leaves of the plant 

 are tied up, that they may not be injured by handling. 

 The pots are then plunged in sand, where there is some 

 bottom heat. 



The rubber plant propagates the best in the spring. 

 Rubber plants may be propagated by cuttings, the same as 

 are other plants. The cuttings are inserted in a mixture of 

 sphagnum moss, loam and leaf-mold, which should be 

 very finely divided, and there should be a bottom heat of 

 65 to 70. They are kept in a close, warm, moist atmos- 

 phere with only enough ventilation to permit the excess 

 of moisture to escape. 



636. Culture. After the plants are well established in 

 three- or four-inch pots, they will require considerable 

 liquid manure. They adapt themselves to wide ranges of 

 temperature, and will grow in partial shade or in sunlight. 

 The foliage will be a darker green if grown in partial shade. 

 They are often plunged out of doors for the summer, 

 which makes them more hardy, and often causes them to 

 branch more freely than when grown inside. 



