APPENDIX. 



431 



Suckers or roal siirmtls — The young- shoots that spring- up around black- 

 berry, red raspberry, plums, 

 pears, and many of our cul- 

 tivated plants are g^ood il- 

 lustrations of this mode of 

 reproduction. In forestry 

 this natural mode of repro- 

 duction is a favorite re- 

 source for certain lines of 

 work, as the production of 

 ^^ tanbark, posts, and stove- 

 wood, and is given the spe- 

 cial name of the Coppice 

 ^^^- ^ ■ System of forestry. Nur- 



sery practices are greatly facilitated by this natural tendency in plants which 

 reproduce their kind true to variety. This is the case with all the red rasp- 

 berries, and blackberries. Some ])lums also reproduce true to name in this 

 manner. 



In general, seedlings, and all plants that have been grown from cuttings 

 will come true from root sprouts, if they reproduce in that way. Outside 

 the bush fruits, however, this method of reproduction should be discouraged 

 rather than encouraged. Nothing is more annoying to the orchardist and 

 fruitgrower than the persistent sprouting of some plants — the hazel and the 

 blackberry are striking examples of such nuisances : also some of the poj)- 

 lars when used as lawn trees. 



AllTIFICIAI. REPUODUCTION. 



The primary object of the nurseryman's business is to multiply plants, 

 and secondly, to perpetuate cultural varieties. The most of the art then 

 consists in the perpetuation of cultural varieties, for as we have already 

 seen, nature has amply provided for the simple multiplication of plants. 

 The artificial methods which we now have to consider are the chief re- 

 sources of the nurseryman in the perpetuation of all desirable varieties of 

 fruits. If it were impossible to continue the existence of a variety of apples 

 through seeds, root sprouts, or some one of the natural processes of repro- 

 duction, that variety, no matter how desii-able it might be, would be lost 

 but for the resource found in the man-made processes of reproduction ; and 

 if these processes were taken from the civilized world to-day, the duplica- 

 tion of our large orchards, vineyards, and orange groves, made up as they 

 are of only a few varieties, would be an absolute impossibility. The im- 

 portance of these processes in modern horticulture is sufficient to justify a 

 somewhat careful description of the simplest and most important of them. 



Cuttage — The process or operation of propagating plants by cutting is 

 called cuttage. 



A cutting is a detached portion of a plant inserted in soil or water with 

 the intention that it shall grow. 



In nursery practices, a knowledge of hardwood cutting, herbaceous cut- 

 ting and root cutting will, in general, prove sufficient. 



