CHAPTER VI 



Propagating and Shipping Young Stock 



OF the two methods whereby young stocks of carnations may be 

 increased, propagation by cuttings, or pippings, is almost exclusively 

 used by the American grower. With the English carnation grower, 

 in propagating the English varieties, layering is largely practiced ; but owing 

 to the difference in climate and the slowness with which stock can be 

 increased, that method has not been found a practical one in America. 



Like Produces Like 



In the reproduction of any species of plant by the use of cuttings, layers, 

 or grafts, it may be stated as an axiom that, with but very rare exceptions, 

 the progeny resulting from such propagation will be practical reproductions 

 of the parent from which the cutting, layer, or scion is taken. The tendency 

 to perpetuate the dominant characteristics of the parent plant is strongly 

 maintained through many generations, subject only to such modifications 

 as may occur from environment and treatment. 



Thus, cuttings from a carnation plant giving red blossoms also bear 

 red flowers ; cuttings from a vigorous plant make vigorous young plants, and 

 vice versa ; a graft, or cutting, from a plant having variegated foliage pro- 

 duces plants with foliage also variegated. 



While the propagation of carnations by rooting cuttings is very simple, 

 it requires not only judgment in the selection of healthy stock for propagat- 

 ing purposes, but also in the selection of strong shoots from the most vigor- 

 ous growth of the plant, and the importance of such judicious selection should 

 not be underestimated. Young plants grown from any stock will partake 

 largely of the characteristics of the parent plant and of its condition at the 

 time the cuttings were taken. If we select propagating wood from sickly 

 plants the constitutions of which are in a debilitated condition, the tendency 

 toward ill-health will be to some extent perpetuated in the young stock, and 

 vice versa ; if the stock is taken from healthy, vigorous growing plants at the 

 time they are in the best condition, the tendency in the young stock will be 

 largely toward vigorous, healthy growth. 



