52 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



Wetness is almost fatal, and to be dust dry is nearly as bad. 

 The healthy conditions of the roots can be maintained only if 

 the soil about them is warm and slightly moist, and this can 

 be quite assured if the drainage is in good working order. 

 This point must receive attention when the pots or boxes 

 are being filled it cannot be done afterwards. 



Just a word as to wintering the plants and cuttings. A 

 warm, dry, airy house is best for them. They need an abundance 

 of light, so that shelves and stages near the glass are their proper 

 positions. A temperature of about 55 is high enough, as there 

 can be no object in forcing winter growth which in the nature of 

 things is bound to be weak. The fact that they are natives of 

 South Africa ought to be borne in mind and be some guide as to 

 the method of treatment. Loam, leaf mould, and rotted manure 

 will make a good compost in which to put them, and this opera- 

 tion ought to be finished during the first half of March or earlier 

 if convenient. 



POINSETTIAS 



The Poinsettia, because of its truly brilliant colour, furnished 

 at a time of year when vivid scarlet is scarcest, is grown in 

 considerable numbers for the market both as a decorative plant 

 and also for cutting. It is a deciduous stove plant and requires 

 brisk heat. After flowering, it has to be well ripened by the 

 gradual withholding of water, and just before the new growth 

 may be expected in the natural course to begin, it should be 

 well headed back and cuttings made of the matured wood then 

 cut away. These cuttings should be made from below one joint 

 to just above the next, that is, to give them an eye at bottom 

 and an eye at top. We have seen every joint made into a 

 cutting, but consider the other the safer. 



Insert around the edges of pots at ij inch apart, using peat 

 and sand as the compost. This must be well firmed down. 

 Plunge in the propagating pit and keep close till growth com- 

 mences, when it will be seen that rooting has also begun. Pot 

 on into a similar compost to which a little loam has been added 

 and continue close treatment. 



Poinsettia Pulcherrima, the best-known variety, is apt to 

 grow tall, and this may be obviated to some extent by growing 



