496 



BUDS. BLOSSOMS FRUITS. 



Blend the compost thoroughly together, and pack it 

 solidly in the boxes. Now you are ready for your cut- 

 tings. It would be well for those trying this plan, to 

 grow plants to furnish these cuttings in some other part 

 of their grounds than the flower-garden, so there will be 

 no need of disfiguring the beds, which just at this time 

 are in full flush of beauty. Select as stock-plants the 

 short-jointed and strong ones. See that each cutting is 

 taken off close and clean just beneath a joint, and is not 

 more than three joints in length. Then with a dibble 

 place the cuttings in rows about two inches apart in the 

 boxes in the full sun, and the most exposed part of your 

 yard. Place them on a brick to keep them off the 

 ground ; this helps them to dry off more readily. Do 

 not water the cuttings except when necessary, then water 

 well and let them go dry again as long as is safe. Keep 

 the cutting-boxes in this situation as long as the weather 

 in the fall will permit. When frost threatens, remove 

 them to the coolest part of the greenhouse, and place 

 them near the glass, giving all the air possible, or better 

 still, where it can be done, place them in coldframes, 

 giving plenty of air. The plants can usually be kept in 

 this manner until the end of November before being 

 housed. The object is to prevent much growth, and 

 make them strong and hardy. 



Such cuttings are easy to manage when put into their 

 final winter quarters. By January 15 have your cutting- 

 bench ready and filled with clean, sharp, not too fine 

 sand. Go over your boxes, and take off a good cutting 

 from each plant and insert it in the soil on the bench' 

 carefully labeling each variety as you proceed. You 

 have now twice as many plants as before. Go carefully 

 over the boxes again and see that each plant has been 

 cut close and clean above the joint, or some will rot off, 

 and you will lose them. 



Keep the plants in the boxes in a dry condition from 

 this time on until they begin to branch. It will be ob- 



served that by the time the cuttings on the bench 

 have rooted, their parents in the boxes will have be- 

 gun branching, and you can place all the plants in 

 three-inch pots, and give them the room necessary on the 

 greenhouse benches, potting the two lots of each kind 

 and placing them together. As soon as well established 

 transfer them to four-inch pots. By April 15, make some 

 ordinary frames in an open space out of doors, using 

 any common rough boards of sufficient height to allow 

 the plants to be covered clear to their tops. You may 

 peg the lower edges, to keep them in place, with stout 

 sticks an inch or so wide. This will keep all together 

 firmly. Let the bottom of the filling-soil be of rough 

 gravel or ashes. Have ready some covering in case 

 of light frosts. Sashes will do, or any kind of doors or 

 boards that can be put on closely when needed. Cover 

 only when absolutely necessary. Put all the plants into 

 this frame and allow them to remain until you are ready 

 to bed them out. As soon as they show signs of growth 

 increase the supply of water. 



This plan has been most successfully practiced by the 

 writer for more than fifteen years, and he has not yet 

 seen a simpler method or one giving such satisfactory re- 

 sults. You will find you can succeed in growing about 

 double the quantity of plants grown by any of the usual 

 methods, and this plan gives us valuable room in the 

 houses for other plants needed during the holidays. It 

 also gives us a supply of strong bushy geraniums with 

 roots and tops in best condition by May 15. 



Do not begin propagation too early in the season. 

 Try and have the plants, at the bedding season, not in full 

 bloom, nor with their roots crammed in their pots, and 

 brown, with their stems red and hard, but have the plants 

 just beginning to show bloom, their roots still white in 

 the pots and their tops still green, displaying that youth 

 and vigor necessary for the best results to be expected 

 from them. — Isaac Husbands, Ohio. 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



\One idea often suggests another. Readers are invited to contribute to this department. If your experience, observation, or 

 ■well-founded opinion differs from that recorded in any recent article in this magazine, or if you can add anything of special interest 

 to the statement of other writers, the editor will welcome your contributions. \ 



in N. C— (Page 204.) 

 sweet-potatoes " appears 



Planting and Marketing 



Twice in this article the word ' 

 confusingly, as I was clearly writing about Irish pota- 

 toes. — W. F. Massey. 



Figs for Market. — (Page 445.) Thanks to the warm, 

 moist weather, the early figs are exceedingly fine. We 

 weighed one San Pedro to-day (June 30), which w-eighed 

 96 gramms, or nearly a quarter of a pound. The trees 

 are well set with young figs for the late crop. These 

 large early ones are figs which set last fall just before 

 frost, and wintered over in a dormant state. This early 

 crop is always larger in size of individual fruits, but not 

 so abundant as the late crop. — W, F. M, 



Tea-Culture in the Carolinas. — (Page 81.) Let me 

 call your attention to the following lines, which are a 



part of myreport to the Secretary of Agriculture in 1889 : 



"As our knowledge of the tea industry widened, it 

 became evident that, even more than the cost of the 

 labor, the controlling factor of profitable production 

 was rainfall. In British India tea-plantations are not 

 considered profitable where the rainfall is less than 80 

 inches yearly. In some parts 120 inches yearly rainfall 

 is recorded, and the production there is at its maximum. 

 In gathering, the young points of the growing shoots 

 (having three or four small tender leaves) are pinched 

 off between the thumb and finger ; this checks the 

 growth of the plant for a longer or shorter period, de- 

 pending upon climate. If warm and dry it will be some 

 time before a second crop of shoots is produced ; if 

 warm and moist, only a few weeks will intervene be- 



