"mud" or "saucer system." 



45 



close enough to touch each other as in fig. 14. The sand 

 is then to be watered to bring it to the condition of mud. 

 The saucer with the cuttings is then placed on the shelf 

 of the greenhouse, in the hot-bed. or in a sunny window 

 of any room in the dwelling house ; in each case fully 

 exposed to the sun and never shaded. But one condi- 

 tion is essential to success — until the cuttings become 

 rooted, the sand must be kept continually saturated with 

 water and always in the condition of mud. To do this the 

 saucers must be watered at least once a day with a very 

 fine rose watering pot, and the watering must be done 

 very gently, else the cuttings may be washed out. There 

 is every probability that ninety per cent of all cuttings 

 put in will take root, pro- . . 



vided they were in the 

 proper condition, and the 

 temperature has not been 

 lower than 65 degrees nor 

 above 100 degrees. By 

 the saucer system a higher 

 temperature maybe main- 

 tained without injury, as the cuttings are in reality placed 

 in water, and will not wilt provided the water is not allowed 

 to dry up. Still the detached slip, until rooted, will not 

 endure a long continuation of 100 degrees, and we advise 

 that propagation be done at such seasons that the cuttings, 

 wherever they may be, will have as near as possible an 

 average temperature of 75° or 80° in the sunlight. The 

 cuttings will root (according to kinds and the tempera- 

 ture), in from six to twenty days. Verbenas, Heliotropes, 

 Fuchsias, etc., root in a week, while Eoses, Carnations, or 

 Azaleas, take two, three, or four weeks. TThen rooted they 

 should be potted in light soil, (such as recommended in 

 the article cc Propagating of Plants by Seeds, "") in pots 

 from two to three inches in diameter, and treated care- 

 fully by shading and watering for two or three days. To 



Fig. 14.— SAUCER PROPAGATION. 



