AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



351 



PRO 



often sweep off thousands of cuttings that a 

 few hours before were in healthful vigor. But 

 this dangerous enemy of the propagator re- 

 quires, like vegetation of higher grades, con- 

 ditions suitable to its development, which 

 evidently are a calm atmosphere and a tem- 

 perature above fifty-five or sixty degrees. 

 Hence, to avoid this pest, we make every 

 effort by shading, airing, and regulation of 

 tire heat, to keep the atmosphere of the house 

 so that it shaU not exceed sixty degrees. 

 This, of course, Is not practicable when the 

 outside temperature in the shade is above 

 sixty degrees; but the temperature can be 

 reduced considerably by dashing water on the 

 pathways and other parts of the house. It is 

 rarely, however, that the outside temperature 

 ever exceeds sixty degrees in the shade for 

 any length of time in the district of New 

 York, before the middle of May, and all propa- 

 gating had better be finished previous to 

 that time, unless of tropical plants. In the 

 fall months, about the middle of September, 

 operations in propagating may again begin. 



The temperature is prevented from rising 

 in the house in various ways, some using 

 canvas, or bast-mats, or painting the glass 

 with lime or whitewash. We find the best 

 and most convenient shading to be that 

 formed by flexible screens made of common 

 lath, planed and attached together like 

 Venetian blinds, the laths being air inch or so 

 apart ; these can be quickly rolled or unrolled, 

 and give an ever- varying modified shade, sufQ- 

 ciently cooling to the house, yet not darken- 

 ing the cutting enough to impair its vigor. 

 These are not unrolled in the morning until 

 the temperature inside indicates it to be nec- 

 essary, and are rolled up in the afternoon as 

 scon as the sun ceases to shine on the glass, 

 for it is of the utmost importance that the 

 cuttings receive as much light as they will 

 bear without becoming wilted. The time 

 required by cuttings to root varies from eight 

 to twenty days, according to the variety, con- 

 dition of the cutting, and temperature. Ver- 

 benas, Fuchsias, or Heliotropes, put in proper 

 (iondition, and kept without ever being allowed 

 to wilt, will root, in an average bottom heat 

 of sixty-five degrees, in eight days, while 

 Roses, Pelargoniums, or Petunias will take at 

 least double that time under the same condi- 

 tions. 



It is best to pot-off the cuttings at once 

 when rooted, no matter how small the roots 

 may be ; half an inch is a much better length 

 for them to be when potted than two inches, 

 and the operation is much quicker performed 

 when the roots are short than when long. But 

 the main evils of delaying the potting-off of 

 cuttings are, that when left too long the cut- 

 tings grow up weak and spindling, the roots 

 become hard, and do not take as quickly to 

 the pot. The same care is required in shad- 

 ing and watering after potting, nearly, as in 

 the cuttings bench ; for no matter how care- 

 fully taken up, in the operation of potting the 

 delicate roots get less or more injured and 

 until they begin to emit roots are as nearly 

 liable to wilt as the unrooted cuttings. Cuttings 

 should always be placed in small pots, the 

 best size being from two to two and a half 

 inches wide and deep ; if placed in larger pots 

 the soil dries out too slowly, and the tender 

 root, imbedded too long in a mass of wet soil, 



PRO 



rots and the plant dies. Though we gener- 

 ally prefer soil to be unsifted in potting large 

 plants, yet for newly potted cuttings it is 

 better to be sifted fine, not only that it is 

 more congenial thus to the young roots, but 

 also that the operation is quicker done with 

 finely-sifted soil. After potting, the cuttings 

 are placed on benches covered with an inch or 

 so of sand, watered freely with a fine rose 

 watering pot, and shaded for four or five 

 days ; by that time they will have begun to 

 root, when no further shading is necessary. 

 These methods of propagating by cuttings are 

 such as are now practiced by commercial 

 florists, but for amateurs in horticulture, or 

 gardeners who have charge of private green- 

 houses, there is usually no necessity for a 

 regular propagating house, unless the require- 

 ments for plants are unusually large, as the 



"Saucer System" of Propagation will 

 answer every purpose, and it is the safest of 

 all methods in inexperienced hands. We 

 were, we believe, the first to introduce this 

 system some twenty years ago, and here 

 repeat the directions first given in one of the 

 horticultural journals at that time. " Com- 

 mon saucers or plates are used to hold the 

 sand in which the cuttings are placed. This 

 sand is put in to the depth of an inch or so, 

 and the cuttings inserted in it close enough 

 to touch each other. The sand is then 

 watered until it becomes in the condition of 

 mud, and placed on the shelf of the green- 

 house, or on the window sill of the sitting- 

 room or parlor, fully exposed to the sun, and 

 never shaded. But one condition is essential 

 to success ; until the cuttings become rooted 

 the sand must be kept continually saturated, amd 

 kept in the condition of mvd; if once allowed to 

 dry up, exposed to the sun as they are, the 

 cuttings will quickly wilt, and the whole 

 operation will be defeated. The rules previ- 

 ously laid down for the proper condition of 

 the cuttings are the same in this case, and 

 those for the temperature nearly so ; although, 

 by the saucer system, a higher temperature 

 can be maintained without injury, as the cut- 

 tings are in reality placed in water, and will 

 not droop at the same temperature as if the 

 sand was kept in the regular condition .of 

 moisture maintained in the propagating bench. 

 Still, the detached slip, until rooted, will not 

 endure a continuation of excessive heat, so 

 that we advise, as we do in the regular method 

 of propagating, that the attempt should not be 

 made to root cuttings in this way, in this 

 latitude, in the months of June, July, or 

 August, unless with plants of a tropical 

 nature. When the cuttings are rooted, they 

 should be potted in small pots, and treated 

 carefully by shading and watering for a few 

 days, as previously directed. 



Pbopagation bt Wateb. This is an old 

 way of rooting cuttings and is a very simple 

 and satisfactory way for amateurs to root 

 many plants they may flnd diflBcult by any 

 other process. . The cuttings should be of 

 well matured growth and about six joints or 

 eyes long, two or three of which should be 

 kept in the water which should be kept fresh 

 and clean. The cuttings should show signs 

 of callusing in from two to three weeks and 

 should be well rooted in two or three weeks 

 more, when they should be removed and pot- 

 ted off as ordinary cuttings, care being taken. 



