3 o MARKET NURSERY WORK 



give out an arid or dry heat, so no further explanation is needed 

 as to why the one is so much better than the other. 



A wooden framework rests on the top of the brick containing 

 walls, and this is made to accommodate a double row of 3 -feet lights, 

 back to back and sloping down from the centre. The frame is of 

 sufficient depth to allow of a space of 6 to 9 inches above the bed 

 of fibre. There you have the propagating bed complete, practically 

 the very nerve-centre of glass-house nursery work, for when not 

 taken up with roses it is in continuous use as a propagator of other 

 stock. 



Allowing for an 1 8-inch path to run around this pit, there yet 

 remains ample room for an all-round run of staging about 3 feet 

 wide. A word as to this staging. In most modern greenhouses 

 the stages are built of open woodwork, and while we are quite sure 

 that this is not the best arrangement for ordinary plants, we are 

 perfectly positive that it is not the best in a rose or general propa- 

 gating house. We object to the open woodwork ; what we want 

 is a substantial stage covered in with strong slates upon which 

 an inch of ashes or sand will form a bed capable of retaining moisture 

 and warmth. The hot-water piping on either side should consist 

 of two flows and two returns, with adjusting valves so that at certain 

 periods it may if necessary be shut off for a time, and as in all 

 probability the house will be put to other uses during the summer 

 and autumn months provision must be made for very adequate 

 ventilation. 



We can now visualise the house, and this will give us a better 

 understanding of the routine of rose grafting we are about to 

 describe. 



Just after mid-December the earliest stocks are swelling their 

 buds preparatory to breaking into growth, and that is an excellent 

 stage at which to graft them, the scions being, of course, perfectly 

 dormant. So far as we have been able to do so, we have shown 

 in the accompanying illustration, the progressive stages of grafting 

 in a form which can be easily followed. Fig. 15 A shows us the stock 

 as it appears when fit for grafting ; Figs. 156 and 150 the same stock 

 headed back and prepared; Figs. i6A, i6B, and i6c the fitting 

 together of scion and stock; Fig. i6D tying on the graft. We 

 think the veriest novice can follow these, though we must be 



