DID I simply intend to give instructions regarding the particular manner in which cuttings of coleus should be made, and how treated subsequently, so as to insure their rooting, I would merely say, take a knife sharp enough to cut with ease and remove a branch of any convenient length, paying no attention as to the particular point on the branch where the cut is made. If at a joint, all right; if anywhere between joints, also all right; it will send out roots readily anywhere. Stick the cutting into sand or soil - sand is preferable, because cleaner and easily handled - giving bottom heat or not, as convenient. If there is a nice bottom heat, the cutting will be rooted and ready to pot in five days ; if there is none, it may take them about twice as long to emit roots. My article might end here, for without exception, perhaps, there is not a plant in cultivation so easily propagated by cuttings as the coleus.

What I wish particularly to direct attention to now, is the means by which stock, from which cuttings may be obtained at the proper time, can be most conveniently and economically secured, and carried along until required.

Generally stock is provided in two ways; by rooting cuttings early in fall, and by taking up old plants just before frost comes at that season. The plan of making young plants for stock has some advantages which commend it. In the first place, it is very convenient simply to take off a number of cuttings which readily root With very little labor, subsequently, one can pot them, either singly in small pots - three-inch usually - or three or four may be placed in a four-inch pot. Where the economizing of room in the greenhouses in winter is of great importance - as during that season every available spot is occupied with flowering plants - these young plants of coleus are very convenient. They can be stored away in all sorts of places, favorable enough too, but where larger plants could not stand. Hanging shelves, for instance, are just the thing for them. I i have, in years past, used a great many of these shelves, although now I am inclined to look on them as very poor contrivances; yet in a pinch, although they may be inconvenient and cost a great deal of labor, they help out wonderfully.

There are cases where it is always advisable to propagate young plants for stock, as, for instance, where the stock of some particular variety is very limited, and it is desirable to increase it as much as possible. To accomplish this, cuttings should be made of every branch. These as soon as rooted should be potted singly, and encouraged by every means to grow rapidly. From them, cuttings may soon be obtained, and these again in turn will quickly yield a crop, the first cuttings being kept and encouraged to produce more wood, from which to propagate again.

Another case where cuttings only should be taken for stock, is when, as frequently happens, the old plants have become badly infested with mealy bug. In general these insects lodge more on the old leaves or in the axils of these than on the younger parts of the plant, therefore by taking the points for cuttings, the insects may be avoided. Cuttings are also preferable to old plants which have grown all summer closely packed together in a flower bed. These are generally so weakened by fall as to be unfit for stock. Old plants have also their advantages, and where a sufficient amount of bench room can be given them for a few months, are, I think, the most profitable. It is always desirable, however, to prepare them, and not be content to take these which have done duty in a bed as a lawn ornament all summer. My plan is to plant the required number in the garden in rows about eighteen inches apart each way, so that they cannot become crowded. They are also pinched to keep them dwarf, and cause them to branch out. Early in the fall, when the nights become cool, usually about the first of September, they are carefully taken up, potted in six or seven-inch pots, and set in the greenhouse, and are shaded for a few days until they make new roots.

From that time until the cuttings are taken off, they demand but little attention, unless attacked by mealy bug, which necessitates a good deal of work to keep it in subjection. I do not find it necessary to keep these plants in a temperature higher than from 550 to 6o°. The object is not to increase the growth any more than is just sufficient to keep the points of the branches already formed healthy and fresh. In the temperature named very little water is required to keep the plants in good health. A daily syringing overhead is usually sufficient; it keeps the foliage clean, and just enough water drops into the pots to keep the soil moist. Occasionally a plant may not get sufficient water, which is quickly noticed by the drooping leaves, and then a little should be poured in the pot. But the soil must never get very wet, or surely the plants will suffer. In a much higher temperature water may not only be given more freely with impunity, but it is demanded. A strong growth is, of course, the consequence, but this is not always desirable. About the first of January the cuttings, which are usually strong and healthy, are taken off; and as soon as they are rooted the old plants are thrown out.

These cuttings in due time furnish others, so that by the first of June, when we can begin planting out, there is no trouble in obtaining, as we do, ten thousand strong plants in four-inch pots from one hundred and fifty old plants taken up in fall. After experimenting with old and young plants for stock for many years, I prefer, under the circumstances recited, the former. James Currie.

Milwaukee, Wis.