64 MARKET NURSERY WORK 



late autumn. They are used in all kinds of decorative and 

 colour schemes are often used where scarlet Geraniums could 

 be used and by many people are preferred as being more flori- 

 ferous and less coarse. A nurseryman who has the facilities 

 for growing a few thousands of these may feel fairly complacent 

 as to selling them, the trade itself being always the heaviest buyer. 



Cuttings make dwarfer and earlier blooming plants than 

 seedlings, but the latter have the finer blooms. Some prefer 

 the one, some prefer the other, but on the whole the trade plump 

 for cuttings. 



Some growers experience difficulty in preserving their stock 

 plants through the winter, and we venture to express the opinion 

 that perhaps they give them too much attention. Most of the 

 Sages like conditions that we may describe as warm and dry, but 

 they do not like to be stood just over the hot-water pipes where 

 copious and frequent waterings are necessary to life. They 

 neither ask for a fierce heat nor a desert-like aridity, but for a 

 temperature ranging from 55 to 60 F., and just sufficient 

 water to keep them alive. But all the difficulties of the winter 

 may be avoided by putting in a sufficient batch of cuttings 

 early in September, wintering them in stores on the shelves, 

 and potting off in February the young tops of these will furnish 

 further cuttings in April. 



Let us, however, revert to the old plants. By February 

 the old soil in the pots is dried out useless, and we cannot look 

 for healthy cuttings to grow from such a source, so we prune the 

 plants back, give them water, and directly we see them becoming 

 active we shake all the old soil from the roots and re-pot into new, 

 standing them in a warm spot. Growth is fairly rapid and each 

 plant yields a continuous supply of cuttings for some time. 

 These, if inserted either in a sandy prepared bed or in pots or 

 pans, will soon root, when they are potted straight into 6o's 

 and grown on in warmth, being hardened off in frames during 

 May. The best plants should be selected and grown on in 48*8, 

 as that size is needed for many purposes. The demand is con- 

 stant and the difference in the value of bedding stuff and 48 

 stuff is so marked that we have often wished our whole stock 

 had been grown to the larger size. 



