MARKET NURSERY WORK 



so, experience shows, it never would, and for that reason is of little 

 use to the propagator. No nurseryman, indeed no propagator, will 

 seek to increase his stock by the inclusion of any plants which he has 

 reason to think will not prove satisfactory either to himself or to 

 any who may purchase them. 



Before proceeding with the making of cuttings we must emphasise 

 the fact that there are very special reasons why none but healthy 



stock should be propagated, and only 

 really good cuttings put in. The 

 principal reason is that this class of 

 carnation, being perpetual flowering, 

 is of necessity perpetual growing. 

 There is no season of rest, no period 

 for recuperation ; it goes on and on 

 till it has expended all its energy, 

 when it begins to go " off colour " 

 and quickly deteriorates. It is only 

 by the regular propagation of really 

 healthy cuttings that the vigour of 

 the stock can be maintained by fre- 

 quent renewal, and this is so essential 

 that if for some reason or other it 

 was not regularly followed up, we 

 should see the perpetual flowering 

 carnation become extinct almost as 

 rapidly as it sprang into existence. 



This is not meant to be alarmist, 

 for we are all too much alive to its 

 interests to see it suffer neglect, yet 

 it was well to refer to it and to urge 

 that it should not be overlooked even 

 by those whose knowledge of the 

 plant may as yet be small . In this con- 

 nection there are two other facts of some significance to note, and 

 these are : (i) The perpetual flowering carnation quickly succumbs 

 to disease, and (2) that once a plant becomes unhealthy it is almost 

 impossible to win it back to health ; and this emphasises the need 

 for care. 



FIG. 2. Growth of Wood 

 for Cutting 



