432 



REPORT OF STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



Hardwood cutting — This term is interpreted as applying- to cutting made 

 from ripened wood of deciduous plants of the present or previous season's 

 growth. 



Plants that are usually propagated in this way are: grape, currant, 

 gooseberry, willow, poplar, cranberry (not deciduous) and some conifers. 



From a commercial standpoint this is one of the most important of the 

 artificial methods of propagation, and when the great number of plants of 

 grapes, currants, gooseberries, poplars and willows, all of which are prc!i)a- 

 gated in this way, are taken into consideration, the pecuniai'y value of this 

 method becomes evident. By no means the smallest merit of this method 

 of reproduction rests in the ease with which horticultural varieties or sorts 

 of plants can, by. use of it, be increased. This, as has already been stated, 

 is the great merit of the artificial methods of reproducing plants. 



The grape is usually increased from a two to three eye (bud) 

 cutting. The cut at the base of the cutting is made close to the 

 bud or eye, as is shown in Fig. IX, while the cut at the distal 

 or upper end of the cutting is made at considerable distance 

 from the top bud. The reasons for such practice are that the 

 node represented by the bud at the base of the cutting is richer 

 in root-forming material than that portion of the wood between 

 the buds or nodes called the internode. The practice of leaving 

 a portion of the internode beyond the distal bud is not so easily 

 explained and is founded more upon tradition and science, but 

 it may be said with some degree of truth, that the long portion 

 of the internode left above the top bud prevents loss of moisture 

 from that bud, and to that extent acts as a guard to the bud. 



The cuttings as prepared are tied in bunches (butts all one 

 way) of from twenty-five to fifty. This is usually done while 

 the wood is dormant during the fall and early winter, and as 

 fast as made, the cuttings are buried, bottom end up, in a 

 trench, which places the top buds below dangerous freezing 

 ^ ^ and exposes the butts of the cuttings to the action of frost and 

 the stimulating influence of the sun as it warms the earth in 

 spring. In this way natural influences are taken advantage of 

 to produce the same result aimed at by the gardener in his artificially 

 heated greenhouse— root action is stimulated by bottom heat, while the top 

 buds are kept dormant by a lower temperature and the exclusion of light. 



The currant is handled in like manner, except that currant cuttings are 

 usually made about eight inches long, regardless of the number of buds they 



contain. 



As soon as planting time arrives,— the succeeding spring,— the cuttiugs 

 which have been wintered as above described, are taken from the trench, 

 the bunches broken, and the individual cuttings ( Fig. X ) scattered along 

 the side of a trench, in such a way that about three inches of space remains 

 between each cutting and the topmost bud, or buds remain at or above the 

 surface of the soil. The soil is then placed upon the cuttings and thoroughly 

 packed. It is as essential that the earth be firmed about a cutting as about 

 a seed or tree. 



Fig. IX. 



