50 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



decoration. They are put thickly into store pots, pans, or 

 boxes, and stood in the open air fully exposed to the sun. In 

 about a fortnight they take root, but are in no way interfered with 

 until the approach of frost makes it advisable to house them. 

 It is possible to house considerable numbers in limited space, 

 for they remain in the stores until potted singly in spring into 

 the pots in which they are sold. 



Young tops of good solid growth make the best cuttings 

 soft and sappy growth being very liable to rot off during bad 

 weather. Pot plants give but a limited number of cuttings, 

 but as they are usually firmer, shorter- jointed, and better 

 matured they make the best of cuttings, and over 90 per cent, 

 of them may be relied upon to root. A nurseryman who is 

 planting Geraniums out for stock purposes sees to it that the 

 soil in the beds is well firmed, because only in really firm soil 

 can the kind of wood be produced approximating to that of the 

 pot plants in quality. A variety like Paul Crampel naturally 

 tends to rapid and soft growth, and that can only be 

 corrected by making the soil solid and in regulating the 

 supply of moisture. Flower of Spring has a similar tendency 

 and calls for similar treatment. Mrs. Pollock and other 

 tricolours are sparse growers and are more amenable to 

 generous treatment. 



While we entirely agree that the putting of the bulk of the 

 autumn cuttings into stores is sound, especially on economic 

 grounds, it is our own invariable practice at all other times to 

 insert them singly in small pots, and we find that this method 

 gives us very satisfactory results. A cutting so inserted in 

 March is well rooted and established by April ; it can then, 

 without check, be potted on into a large 60 for bedding, or even 

 into a 48 for sale as a pot-flowering plant. But the best pot 

 plants are those from cuttings specially inserted for that purpose 

 in small pots in August and grown on during the winter. Early 

 in February we behead them (incidentally increasing our stock), 

 and as soon as they begin to break we put them into their 

 flowering pots. Still growing them on, we can dispose of them 

 as extra large bedding stuff in 48*3 at a good price, or market 

 them as specimen plants in bloom at a still better price. 



