44 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



October till May, and indeed one might say " all the year round." 

 The most practical method of propagating it is from cuttings 

 taken from side growths in February. These cuttings may either 

 be cut at a joint (see Fig. 7) or " piped "that is, " pulled " like 

 Pinks and sufficient of the grass removed (cut) to make a stem 

 of not less than an inch. Our own practice is to insert them 

 singly in " thimbles " in sandy soil so that when rooted they 

 may be potted on without feeling a check, but specialists who do 

 many thousands strike them in pans, boxes, or propagating beds. 

 They are easy subjects and will root in a very few days on bottom 

 heat. The propagating pit must be kept close for a few days, 

 and the cuttings sprinkled, but this is the only period of its 

 existence when the Carnation requires overhead watering. 

 The soil for striking the cuttings should be porous and not 

 heavy ; that for potting them into might be of coarser texture, 

 say, half loam, half leaf soil, a dash of sand, and some lime 

 rubble. When they are once established a temperate heat is all 

 that is required, for this plant rather resents a higher thermometer. 



BOUVARDIAS 



The old-time popularity of the Bouvardia has waned, but 

 it still has its place as a market plant and will hold it so long as 

 the taste for the beautiful and the sweet remains. Its demerit 

 in modern eyes is that it is not sufficiently showy, that it does 

 not flaunt its flowers as do so many plants that are popular. 

 Provided the plant is well grown it is yet good enough for the 

 most exclusive greenhouse and conservatory, as also for the 

 window and the table. Cuttings should be taken in April and 

 May from young growths produced after the old plants have been 

 cut back. Inserted in open, sandy, though well firmed soil, 

 about 12 to a 48, and plunged in bottom heat, the cuttings 

 readily root. After they are rooted they do not need to be 

 treated as " hothouse," but as " greenhouse " plants, the 

 principal difference being that they like plenty of fresh warm 

 air. They need but two shifts from cutting pots to 6o's, 

 and later from 6o's to 48*8. Care must be taken to make them 

 bushy, so as soon as the young plant has become established in 

 its 60 pot and made 2 inches of growth, the top must be nipped 



