TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



139 



moss on the sides must be fairly tight, so that the cuttings will not 

 move when the box is handled. When the box is filled up to two inches 

 from the top, the balance is filled with moss and the lid is brought 

 down and fastened. The box is then straightened up, and we have 

 before us a center part showing the sections of the scions, and around 

 this on all four sides we have a layer of moss mixed with charcoal. If 

 care has been taken to lay the tops of the scions level with the afore- 

 mentioned line, the surface will be level. The top of the box is now 

 covered with two and a half inches of the chopped moss and charcoal. 



When this process was first tried, the boxes were handled in a way 

 similar to the method pursued with the "sand callusing bed"; they were 

 placed out of doors in a sunny exposure, and covered up at night or on 

 rainy days so as to keep the temperature as regular as possible. This 

 way of handling gave fairly good results, but an improved method of 

 handling the boxes has been devised by the Moet & Chandon Viticul- 

 tural Station. I must say that it is to their courtesy in furnishing me 

 with complete data on their experiments that I am able to give you 

 this information to-day. 



In this method, the boxes are placed in a hothouse, where the tem- 

 perature is kept constant by means of a stove, or better, by a system 

 of hot-water or steam pipes. In a small room a chicken-incubator regu- 

 lator and lamp could be used, or a gasoline or oil stove. The hot- 

 house should be well built with double walls, or it may be buried in the 

 ground up to the roof. It must have good ventilation, so that an 

 excessive temperature accidentally obtained may be promptly dropped. 

 It must not be too strongly lighted. 



We will give a description of a small building that would take care 

 of from 170,000 to 250,000 bench-grafts; using boxes 36 by 18 by 24 

 inches, as we described before, that will hold about 4,000 grafts. Such 

 a building would be 12 by 18 feet inside measurement, sides 8 feet high; 

 on three sides it is buried 7 feet in the ground. A run-off should be 

 made under the roof's eaves for the purpose of carrying away the rain 

 water. Three inches are allowed between the boxes in the rows and at 

 the back; two or three rows of boxes, one above another, are allowed 

 on each side of the house. If three rows of boxes are used one above 

 another it would require 10 feet of walls instead of 8 feet. Two rows 

 high are handier to handle, and would permit the taking care of 

 170,000 bench-grafts — enough for over 120 acres, estimating that 50 per 

 cent would be good grafts. Hot-water pipes are run close to the floor; 

 a small kitchen stove with water-back being used for an ordinary room 

 like this. In this particular building the top of the gable and the 

 double walls were filled with chopped straw; the roof had large glass 

 sashes, which were covered most of the time with matting, so as to 



