Propagating and Shipping Young Stock 



In the preparation of material used to fill the benches care must always 

 be taken that it shall not be mixed with sour loam, and especially with 

 decaying vegetable matter, as such impurities tend to develop that bane 

 of the propagator, the cutting bench fungus. The most desirable and profit- 

 able material for propagating purposes is clean, sharp builders' sand. Many 

 qualities and textures of sand may be employed, and each grower must 

 put up with the best that may be available in his locality. The sand should 

 be sharp, free from loam and all other impurities, and in preparing it for 

 the bench it should be sifted through a fine sieve so as to remove all small 

 stones and make it run even in texture. If it can be sterilized so much 

 the better. 



Three to four inches in depth of sand is sufficient ; in fact, a bench 

 with two and a half inches of clean sand overlying the terra cotta or brick 



bottom makes one of the most successful 

 propagating benches. In filling the bench 

 the sand should be compacted by hammering 

 it with a brick or a tool made for the pur- 

 pose, so that it will be of an even density 

 throughout the entire bench. The sand must 

 be thoroughly moist throughout and com- 

 pacted before the cuttings are placed in it. 



Tool for Firming Sand. 



In placing the cuttings in the sand they must be inserted firmly without 

 bruising them in any manner, and the sand compacted about the base so 

 that the cutting is held firmly and erect, and no air can get to the base to 

 wither or dry it up. 



The following method of preparing the cuttings has proved the best 

 under our practice at Queens, after many years of experimental work, 

 during which period upward of two and a half millions of cuttings have 

 been rooted and either sold or grown into plants : The cuttings are taken 

 from the plants with a short, sharp, downward pull, that tears off a little 

 of the bark from. the main stem. If the cutting is so soft that none of the 

 bark from the main stem comes with it, it is not considered in a fit condi- 

 tion for striking. On the other hand, if it is so hard that a considerable 

 portion of the wood from the main stem is removed with the cutting, form- 

 ing a tail an inch or more in length, it is considered too hard and not desir- 

 able. Just sufficient of the bark of the main stem should come away with 

 the cutting to form a little splint a quarter of an inch, or a little over, in 

 length. 



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