708 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Plant processes may not be wholly suspended during the dor- 

 mant period. Although food preparation is wholly stopped, root 

 growth and the callusing of injured root surfaces proceed to 

 some extent ui unfrozen layers of soil during Winter. This 

 is true not only of the plant as a whole, but also of detached 

 parts of a plant if they are protected from evaporation. If cut- 

 tings are taken from a dormant plant in the Autumn and stored 

 under suitable conditions during the Winter, the cut surface at 

 the bottom of the cuttings will partially callus over and the 

 fomiation of roots may commence during the Winter. 



Cuttings of this character should be stored in a place sufficientlv 

 moist to prevent loss of water by evaporation, but not warm 

 enough to start leaf development. Root growth may proceed 

 at a temperature too low to excite the buds. These conditions 

 are usually fulfilled by placing the cuttings in a moist cellar 

 where frost cannot enter, but it should be as cool as possible, and 

 cover them w'ith moist sand, or they inay be buried in the open 

 ground below the frost line. , In not too severe climates the 

 latter method is often preferable. Stored cutting shoidd be 

 taken up and planted in the Spring before the buds expand. 



Cuttings of evergreen plants should not be buried, as this would 

 destroy the leaves without which they rarely root. Evergreen 

 cuttings are usually made in the Autumn, and planted at once in 

 bo.xes of sand and kept for a time in a light, moist, cool place 

 until the growing points of the roots have formed, after which 

 they may have a warmer temperature. 



Stem cuttings of the currant, gooseberry, and other hard, 

 shrubby plants are sometimes made in the Autumn as soon a3 

 the wood of the current year has ceased to grow, and planted 

 at once in well-drained loamy or sandy soil in the open ground : 

 thus treated they will generally commence forming roots before 

 Winter. They should be mulched on the approach of freezing 

 weather. In the Spring it is advisable to shade them for a time 

 until well-rooted. 



Stem cuttings usually form roots more promptly and with 

 greater certainty if they are cut off immediately below a node or 

 bud. Unlike the root, a plant's stem is divided into successive 

 sections, comparable in part to the stories of a building. Each 

 section consists of one or more leaves attached to the distal end 

 or point of the stem. (Distal means farthest from the point at 

 which the growth started, and is opposed to proximal, which 

 means nearest point of origin.) The part of the stem to which 

 a leaf or leaves are attached when growing is called a node, and 

 the part below the node, or, in the stem as a whole, the part 

 between the nodes is termed the internode. The nodes are dis- 

 tinctly marked in the younger stems of most plants by a slight 

 enlargement, or by leaf-scars, if the leaves have fallen. The 

 nodes are centers of the greatest vital activity, and are points 

 at which lateral growing points (buds) are usually formed, and 

 on account of being thus more active centers roots usually start 

 first from them in cuttings or layers. 



Green-wood cuttings are more commonly employed than those 

 from mature wood, as they generally root more quicklv. .\11 

 soft-wooded plants can naturally only be increased by green cut- 

 tings. House plants, as geraniums, coleuses, carnations, fuchsias, 

 and the like, are grown from soft young wood, and many hard- 

 wooded plants may be grown in the same way. 



In making a cutting of soft and growing shoots, the first thing 

 to learn is the proper texture or age of the shoot. A verv soft 

 and flabby cutting does not root readily and is also especially 

 liable to damp off ; while too old growing wood is slower to 

 root. The ordinary test for beginners is the way in which a 

 shoot breaks. If. on being bent, the shoot snaps ofif squarely so 

 as to hang together with only a bit of bark, it is in the proper 

 condition for cutting; but if it bends or simply crushes, it is 

 either too old or too young for gotid results. With green-wood 

 cuttings it does not usually matter about cutting the shoot iust 

 below a node. The greater transpiration from green-wood cut- 

 tings renders propagation in the open air scarcely practicable. 



While the propagating house is necessary for the extensive 

 multiplication of most plants from cuttings, the amateur mav 

 readily propagate a limited number in the window of a living 

 room either in a liox of sand, or by the so-called "saucer svstem." 

 in which the cuttings are placed in glazed saucers containing 

 sand which should be kept constantly moist. 



Some plants will root in fresh, spring water, and this method 

 is almost entirely used with mature-wood cuttings of the Oleander. 



Those who are troubled with that pestiferous weetl, wild morn- 

 ing glory, arc aware how readily the smallest piece of root will 

 grow into a plant, and there are a number of plants which caii 

 lie likewise multiplied by root-cuttings, but the method is not 

 much used ni practice, except in a few special cases. 



.-Ml root-stocks or underground stems can be made into cuttings: 

 but true root cuttings possess no buds whatever, the liuds develop- 

 ing after the cutting is planted. Out of doors the blackberrv and 

 Tecoma vine can be readily propagated in this manner, and it 

 is also used in greenhouses for Draca-nas and Bouvardias. amongst 

 a fe.v others. 



Plants which sucker freely can usually be propagated by root- 

 cuttings, but in these cases the removal and planting of the rooted 

 suckers amounts to the same thing. This comes under the head 

 of propagation by division, and is the usual way of multiplying 

 most species of hardy perennials. In fact with the majority of 

 the latter one can obtain enough new plants by dividing the 

 crowns in three or four years after planting a perennial border, 

 to cover several times the original area of ground. Some of 

 these, however, like psonies and Anciiwtw Japoiiica, do best when 

 left undisturbed, although they may be increased by division. 



Propagation b\- leaf-cuttings is a method sometimes used with 

 a few greenhouse subjects having fleshy leaves, the whole or por- 

 tions of a leaf being treated as green-wood cuttings. 



Propagation by specialized buds — so called — is another method 

 which may be looked upon as really a natural mode of vegetative 

 plant multiplication. 



Specialized buds include bulbs, bulblets, corms and tubers ; in 

 propagating they stand in a sense intermediate between the use 

 of parts intact, that is, by suckers, or division, and by cuttings. 

 The bud which is to form the future plant is specially prepared 

 by the parent through an abundant food supply and a partially 

 dormant condition of the cell protoplasm, to maintain a separate 

 existence, even under adverse conditions, and in due time to de- 

 velop into a plant. In some respects it resembles a seed frorp 

 which it differs, however, in the less dormant condition of its 

 protoplasm and in not being the product of sexual fecundation. 



A bulb is a very short stem containing a terminal bud enclosed 

 in scales. The scales are thickened liy the food stored in them 

 and in their axis are smaller buds. The terminal bud usually de- 

 velops a flower and then perishes, and one or more of the lateral 

 buds may develop into flower buds for the following year, and 

 thus continue the life of the plant. These thickened scales can 

 be used for propagation. 



Remove the scales intact and plant upright like seeds in a soil 

 composed of equal parts of sand and leaf-mold. September is 

 the usual month for the operation. A cool greenhouse or cold- 

 frame may lie used for the purpose, and young bulblets, not roots, 

 will usually appear at the bottom of the scales before Winter: 

 these bulblets will produce top-growth the following Summer, and 

 they should be kept as cool as possible throughout the Win.ter 

 and not forced into growth by high temperature. According to 

 species, a greater or less number of years will elapse before 

 flowers are produced. 



Bulblets are naturally formed in tlie axils of the leaves on cer- 

 tain plants, as in the case of the Tiger Lily ; or at the apex of 

 the stem, as with the "top-onion." The Ijulblets of the lily mav 

 be collected when ripe and sown in a cold frame, or they mav be 

 carried over the Winter in paper bags and planted in the Spring, 

 using light, rich soil. 



Bulbs imariably break up. or divide themselves into two or 

 more portions, each -portion being a complete bulb. These por- 

 tions may be taken and planted separately if desired. 



A corm differs from a bulb chiefly in being without fleshy 

 scales : familiar examples occur in the gladiolus and the crocus. 

 As a rule, a new corm is produced each year above the old one 

 and commonly bears flowers the following year. Also a number 

 of little cormels appear around the base of the new corm. l'~or 

 the purpose of multiplication these cormels are saved and planted 

 in rows like peas in the Spring. From these flowers will be 

 produced the second year. 



In the case of plants bearing tubers, of which the common 

 potato is the most familiar example, there are some differences 

 m the methods of vegetative propagation, which are caused bv 

 physiological differences in the tubers themselves. 



W ith the above potato, as many new plants may be obtained 

 from a single tuber as the latter contains eyes or buds, but a 

 piece of tuber without an eye will not produce a plant. With 

 the sweet potato the case is dift'erent. These tubers do not con- 

 tain eyes and the usual method of propagation is to cut the tuber 

 in half lengthwise and lay each portion flat upon moist sand, 

 either over bottom heat or without, according to climate. Young 

 plants will appear in about a month and these are pulled off when 

 rooted and three or four inches high, and planted : others will 

 soon arise to take their place, and thus three or four crops of 

 sprouts may be obtained from each tuber. 



The tubers of the dahlia do not give rise to plants under anv 

 circumstances, but new growth starts from the portion of thf 

 stem just above the tuber, therefore in planting care must be 

 taken that each tuber has a portion of stem attached to it. 



Tulicrs are. in practically all cases, merely thickened portions 

 of a stem, and are really storehouses of food to support the young 

 growth in its early stages. 



Layering is a mode of stem propagation in which the shoot 

 remains attached to the plant until rooted. Many plants naturally 

 and habitually propagate themselves by means of decumbent 

 shoots, which, becoming more or less covered by earth and leaves 

 emit roots, generally at the nodes. There are also a lar.ge number 

 (CoiiliiiKCil oil page 710) 



