SYSTEM" OF PROPAGATION. 129 



CHAPTER XXV. 

 " SAUCER SYSTEM " OF PROPAGATION. 



The above methods of propagating by cuttings are such 

 as are now practised by commercial florists who have all 

 the needed appliances, but for florists beginning in a 

 small way, or gardeners who have charge of private green- 

 houses, there is usually no necessity for a propagating 

 house, unless the requirements for plants are unusually 

 large, as the " Saucer System " of propagation will answer 

 every purpose, and it is the safest of all methods in inex- 

 perienced hands. I was, I believe, the first to introduce 

 this system some twenty years ago, and here repeat the 

 directions first given in one of the horticultural journals 

 ftt that time : Common saucers or plates are used to 

 hold the sand in which the cuttings are placed. The 

 sand is put in to the depth of an inch or so, and the cut- 

 tings inserted in it close enough to touch each other. 

 The sand is then watered until it becomes of the condition 

 of mud, and placed on the shelf of the greenhouse, or on 

 the window-sill of the sitting room or parlor, fully ex- 

 posed to the sun, and never shaded. But one condition is 

 essential to success : until the cuttings become rooted the 

 sand must be continually saturated, and kept in the 

 condition of mud ; if once allowed to dry up, exposed to 

 the sun as they are, the cuttings will quickly wilt, and 

 the whole operation will be defeated. 



The rules previously laid down for the proper condition 

 of the cuttings are the same in this case, and those for 

 the temperature nearly so ; although, by the saucer sys- 

 tem, a high temperature can be maintained without in- 

 jury, as the cuttings are in reality placed in water, and 

 will not droop at the same temperature as if the sand 

 wer kept in the regular condition of moisture maintained 



