IS 
eye to two roots. Such heroic work, however, had better be left to the expert. After 
dividing the tubers they should be again packed in some damp material and placed in a 
warm place for a few days to heal the wounds made in dividing. After this they should 
be kept dry until planted. A common error among amateurs is to reset the whole clump 
or to only divide it in halves. This is not a good practice, to say nothing of the waste 
of valuable stock. Clumps must be divided if good results are to be obtained. A cluster 
of stems will never do the fine work produced by one strong stem. 
Even if a mass is wanted, I would still advise dividing small and then, if desired, 
plant closer— say, a foot apart. This will give better results than a cluster, each leaning 
away from the center. The size of the tuber is not so important as some imagine. Quite 
small tubers will do excellent work. 
Cuttings. 
For more rapid increase the cutting process is the proper method. This method 
confined almost exclusively to commercial growers and many millions are annually grown 
m this way; some to be sold as green plants; others to be grown through the season in 
small pots and ripened into what is known commercially as pot roots. The European 
trade deals almost exclusively in these two products. In this country, where space is not 
so valuable, these rooted cuttings are transferred to the open field and treated the same 
as plantations of tubers. In this way the stock attains a much larger growth than it 
would if confined in pots, and in general appearance resembles the stock grown from 
tubers, only it is not so large and, of course, not so well supplied with eyes. 
A number of good things may be said in favor of the cutting process, chief among 
which is that new and valuable varieties may be had years in advance of what would be 
required to work up a stock by the slower method of propagation by divisions. Then, 
again, a great quantity of stock can be grown in a small space. Still there are a number 
of serious objections to the method. But it is not the object of this work to cast reflections 
upon any legitimate branch of the industry; but I will say, in passing, that I am not an 
enthusiast over the green plant portion of the question. The pot roots, on the other hand, 
while generally very smalH are nevertheless excellent planting stock, convenient and light 
for either mail or express, and may be reasonably true to name and free from mixture, as 
most of them bloom the previous year and thus afford an opportunity of picking out the 
mixtures. There appears to be some confusion in the public mind regarding the meaning 
of the terms pot plant and pot root. The green plant being often referred to as a pot 
root. This is not proper. A pot root is a dormant tuber of the previous season's growth. 
A pot plant is a rooted cutting of the present season's growth, and is handled commer- 
cially in a growing condition. 
The work of propagating should begin early in February. The stock to be propa- 
gated from should be the strongest and best of the previous season's growing. Place the 
undivided clumps upon the greenhouse bench or any convenient place where there will be 
a temperature of 65 to 70 degrees and good air and sunlight. Cover the roots almost to 
the crown with light soil or leafmold, manure if needed, can be given later on in liquid 
form. In a week or ten days the eyes will have started growth and when the first shoots 
are one inch in length cut them off and throw them away, as they never make good plants 
if indeed they ever root. In removing these shoots cut about a quarter of an inch from 
the base. This will cause the eye to broaden and a cluster of eyes to form, from which 
an increased number of shoots will spring. When the next growth has attained a growth 
of two pairs of leaves, cut the shoot with a sharp knife just below the lower pair, remove 
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