74 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Propagation.. 
Where plants can be secured from some 
other bed or by purchase, it is better to get 
them in this way. If this is not practica¬ 
ble, seed may be obtained from reliable 
seedsmen at about twenty-five cents a 
package. The difficulty in securing plants 
in this way is that which usually befalls 
seedlings, especially when planted in a 
small way. If one has merely a package 
of seed, these are often placed in flower 
pots, carefully attended and watered for 
a few days, and possibly before one knows 
they are over watered, and the soil be¬ 
comes water-logged. Then again, in the 
busy rush of the ordinary day, with fruit 
growers, there will be some days when the 
seed are forgotten. By the time one re¬ 
turns, the seed bed will be found as dry 
as sawdust. Even if the seed should not 
really be overlooked or forgotten, when 
the seedlings come up there is always the 
constant danger of damping off. All of 
these difficulties are avoided by securing 
large plants, which can be set directly into 
the bed. 
By taking cuttings from a hardened 
wood, they may be struck and grown 
from cuttings. A much more preferable 
way, however, is to divide the old plants. 
In this way little difficulty is experienced 
in securing a good start. 
Planting in Beds. 
In preparing a bed it should be 
thoroughly worked over and a generous 
supply of compost spaded in. There is 
really no danger of getting too much of 
it, or too much vegetable matter into the 
bed. After this has been thoroughly in¬ 
corporated into the soil, it is well to wet it 
down, so that every particle of it is 
thoroughly soaked. The ground ma} 
then be firmed down by treading over the 
bed, and left for some time, possibly ten 
days to two weeks. This will give the 
fertilizer in the compost an opportunity to 
become thoroughly incorporated with the 
soil, and avoid the danger of scalding the 
roots. The top of the bed at the end of 
this time can be worked over with a 
garden rake or small tool, and the plants 
set into place. If abundance of plants arc 
on hand they may be set in rows six to ten 
inches apart. If one has but few plants, 
they may be set a foot, or even two feet, 
apart. Then as the bushes grow large 
they may be divided and the spaces be¬ 
tween filled in. 
During extremely dry weather it is de¬ 
sirable to give themi an application of 
water once a week, or at intervals as the 
bed becomes somewhat dry. 
Protection of the Bed. 
This plant is of unusual interest to us 
because it will stand slight cold weather. 
It has been known to pass, practically un¬ 
injured, through thirty degrees Fahren¬ 
heit. Where there is danger of the cold 
becoming more severe than this it is 
necessary to provide some protection. 
This would be especially so in northern, 
middle, and western Florida. The pro¬ 
tection can be given by banking the soil 
about the plants to a considerable height, 
so that a large number of the lower buds 
are underground. Then during severe 
cold weather, a covering of straw mat. or 
with straw will tide them over the severe 
weather. In central and south Florida the 
plants will need protection onl}'^ rarely if 
at all. 
This plant begins blooming very early, 
even when only a few inches high, and 
from that time on it continues without in¬ 
termission until the beds are exhausted 
which may be a year, or even longer. For 
