18 



RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS. 



Cuttings by Roots. — Cuttings by roots, 

 although long known, are not generally used 

 by our better horticulturists ; this mode, 

 however, seems sufficiently efficacious to fix 

 the attention of those who study the art of 

 multiplication. I have several times had oc- 

 casion to mention the case of Dais Cotinifolia. 

 The roots of this plant, cut into small pieces, 

 and spread on the earth of a pot in a hot- 

 house, gave as many young plants as there 

 were pieces of the root. I do not doubt that 

 we may succeed in making cuttings of the 

 soft wood of the Dais equally well ; but I 

 have never succeeded with the branches when 

 the wood is hard. 



I have already said that Paulownia impe- 

 rialis may be struck from herbaceous cuttings 

 produced in a green-house ; the manner of 

 striking cuttings of the root of this tree is not 

 less easy. Portions of the roots which vary 

 in diameter from ^ to | of an inch, and in 

 length from 1 to 2J inch, take root well. 

 The month of March is the most favorable 

 time for striking these cuttings ; for in Febru- 

 ary they often rot, and the greatest care is 

 necessary to save them. The first seed Pau- 

 lownia which I sowed having only produced 

 me one individual, I perceived that this plant 

 when kept in the pot produced so few buds as 

 to deprive me of all hope of multiplying it 

 quickly. This led me to try cuttings from 

 the roots, which perfectly succeeded, as the 

 innumerable plants now seen in the nurse- 

 ries sufficiently prove. The shoots of a Pau- 

 lownia, struck from 

 root cuttings, came 

 out round the root, 

 as is seen in Fig. 9, 

 N.; this method of 

 proceeding gives us 

 the facility of split- 

 ting the roots into 

 several pieces, which, 

 separately, strike as 

 well as an entire root, 

 Fig. 9, 0. When 

 the shoots, which are 

 developed upon the 

 root, have attained a 



length of an inch, or Fig. O.—Cutihtgs ofaPavlmcnia 



an inch and a quar- imjmxaus. 



ter, we cut them above the two first leaves 

 which appear ; the detached portions are the 

 cuttings, which are placed in a propagating 



pot, just sufficient to keep them upright, 

 taking especial care that the earth is not too 

 dry. When the cuttings have once taken 

 root, and attained some vigor, we cut off the 

 head, which we again place in the earth ; 

 thus we obtain two plants from the cuttings, 

 both of which will form trees. During this 

 time the root of the Paulownia gives other 

 buds, which are subjected to tlie same opera- 

 tion ; but it is useful, in order to draw the 

 sap, to allow a bud to remain upon it, which 

 at a later period, if left to itself, forms a 

 stronger plant than the others. 



As soon as we perceive that the last cut- 

 tings of which I have just spoken have taken 

 root, we place them in a larger pot, and these 

 pots ai-e placed in the green-house, in a spot 

 the least exposed to currents of air ; the 

 young plants will flag a little, but they soon 

 recover. When they have begun to vege- 

 tate, we take them from the green-house and 

 put them in a half shaded cold frame, where 

 a little air is allowed to enter if the sun is 

 too hot ; we thus accustom the Paulownia to 

 support the rays of the sun and the action of 

 the air ; and, as soon as we think the cut- 

 tings sufficiently strong, we plant them in 

 the open ground. All these successive opera- 

 tions take place so quickly, that a cutting 

 made in March, and which is 4 inches high 

 when it is first planted in the open air, at- 

 tains by the following autumn the height of 

 1 foot or more, supposing that it has been 

 planted in a soil suitable to its nature, and 

 has been sufficiently watered. 



No. X. There are other plants whose 

 roots send out, contrary to the Paulownia, 

 their buds upon the cut itself; this is re- 

 marked in Madura aurantiaca. Fig. 10. 

 They are formed between the wood and the 

 bark by an innumerable number of exceed- 

 ingly minute bulbs, which turn green and 

 produce the buds. The ciittings of this 

 plant strike very easily in the open air, fol- 

 lowing the same method of proceeding as in 

 Paulownia ; the large end of the root must be 

 placed even with the earth or nearly so. 



The Cydonia japonica is only multiplied by 

 layers. The difficulty which this method 

 offers for striking has not permitted this 

 plant, up to the present time, to be as much 

 distributed in ornamental gardens as it ought 

 to be. But if we strike from the roots, re- 

 sults will be obtained much better and expe- 



