THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



207 



PROPAGATION OF ORNAMENTAL TREES 

 AND SHRUBS. 



(Jrnamental trees and slinibs are grown l)y diftereiit 

 processes, but the ultimate end is the same in each — the 

 increase of the variety of species, writes M. J. Wragg, in 

 American Fruits. 



In ornamental trees, especially, we always grow those 

 from seed wherever we can get the best results, but as a 

 rule there are but few that we can get this way ; conse- 

 quently we employ budding or grafting. 



We have been very successful in growing one variety 

 of Japan Maple (acer ginnala) by seed, as the seed grown 

 in this country seems to be very strong and perfect and 

 we have had no trouble during the last few years in grow- 

 ing from eighty to ninety per cent, of seed. 



So many of our best ornamental trees recpiire so much 

 nursing to get nice, well-grown specimens that we have 

 employed during the last few years budding. To illus- 

 trate: Jf we want to grow Norway Maple or the red- 

 leaved \-ariety (Schwedleri) or any other fine Maple, we 

 plant out maple seedlings, bud them at one year old after 

 planting and we always use for our stock beds from trees 

 that have special characteristics of growth. As in the 

 Norway Maple, there are some trees that are so much 

 thriftier, up-right growing trees that we get our buds 

 from these trees. In this way we can grow a uniform 

 block or row of the Norw'ay Maple ; but if we depend on 

 seedlings, many of them will be very crooked and un- 

 shapely. 



In trees of rapid growth like the Soft Maple, Linden, 

 Hackberry, ^\'hite Elm, Catalpa Speciosa, etc., we gener- 

 allv plant out one-year-old seedlings. After they have 

 been grown one year we cut them off at the ground. The 

 following year they will make very rapid growth. 



Early in the spring we are careful to remove all the 

 sprouts from the stem except one, so that by fall of the 

 year in which we cut them back we have tall straight 

 stems which will make the body of our future tree. 



I will mention in this connection the Oak, as I consider 

 it one of the coming ornamental trees, and I believe our 

 I)est results will be from planting our native acorns of 

 our Scarlet, White, Red, and Pin Oaks, transplanting 

 them at one year old from seed. 



In shrubs we have to employ dift'erent methods to get 

 the best results. I am now speaking as we grow them in 

 our nursery in a commercial way. 



Take, for instance, the Lilac family. There is a large 

 class of these that we grow from layering, which we do 

 by taking the superfluous limbs as they sprout up from 

 near the ground, make a small incision with a knife or 

 other instrument on the lower side near the ground, just 

 cutting through the cambium layer. When these are bent 

 dow^n and all are prepared, we then cover them with dirt 

 all arotmd the plant, covering from three to six inches, 

 according to conditions. We do this along our large 

 plants that we intend to dig the coming fall. 



.^s fast as we dig these plants we trim all these limbs 

 oft', and, as a rule, they have all thrown out more or less 

 rootlets. Eveii if they have only made a callous we save 

 them, planting them out the same. In this way, from a 

 row of common White, Red, or Purple Lilacs of 1,000 

 we often can get from 3,000 to 4,000 young plants for 

 lining out and yet have the parent bush. 



This is the way that we grow what is known as the 

 common lilac bushes, but if we want to grow nice, up- 

 right lilacs, with nice stems, we then employ budding. 

 The last few' years we have had good success in budding 

 lilacs on the common Privet (Ligustrum A'ulgaris), but 

 we believe for this country that our best lilacs should be 

 budded on Ash, as they make a stronger growth. T have 



never found the growing from cuttings very successful. 

 In most of our shrubs I prefer growing them from hard 

 wood cuttings. 



During the months of September and October 1 pre- 

 pare my cuttings for some varieties. As soon as the wood 

 has matured and the leaves will strip off easily or drop 

 I consider them in the proper condition for cutting. 1 

 like to use cuttings about seven or eight inches long, 

 tying them in bunches of 100 to 150, and keeping the 

 base or the bud of each cutting the same way. As fast 

 as cuttings are cut, and tied each day as cut, I i>ut them 

 in my storage house with the .base down on ilic floor, 

 where I keep it well wet so as to keep the base of the cut- 

 ting in a moist condition. After I have prepared a cjuan- 

 tity ahead I put them in the callousing pit out-of-doors, 

 digging the pit about ten inches deep, putting the base 

 of the cuttings up, covering it with about an inch of soil. 



During the warm weather in September and the first 

 of October these cuttings will callous very rapidly, and as 

 soon as all cuttings are cut and treated in this way I then 

 commence planting them in well prepared ground that 

 has been plowed at least ten inches deep, subsoiled if 

 necessary. 



I generally employ setting to a line, putting my rows 

 three feet and six inches apart and the cuttings in the 

 form from three to six inches, according to variety, push- 

 ing the cutting clear down to the t(ip, then covering the 

 top of the cutting with about an inch of dirt the last 

 thing in October. 



After the cutting patch has frozen in the fall, I cover 

 these buds with manure to keep a warm, equitable tem- 

 perature and keep the cuttings from heaving out by frost. 



Now the varieties that we get the best results from 

 growing hard wood cuttings are Spireas, Arguta, Van 

 Iloutii, Opulifolia, Reveesii. etc. The other varieties of 

 Spirea, like the Colosa Alba, Colera Rubra, Watereri, 

 etc., I think are best propagated from the layering sys- 

 tem, or the division of the plants as they are taken up ; 

 however, for the largest classes, I think the hard wood 

 cuttings the most preferable. 



.Ml varieties of Forsythia grow s])lendidly from hard 

 wood cuttings, also the Tree Honesuckle, Syringa, Tam- 

 arix and other varieties. 



Those that I recommend layering as the fastest and 

 most economical way of producing young plants would 

 he the A'^iburnum Family, common Snowball, Tree Cran- 

 l)crry and Dentatum. These all root readily and by lay- 

 ing the lower limbs of the bush down one can increase 

 them very rapidly. 



Of course, there are some hard wood cuttings that 

 root more easily than others, but if the above methods 

 are employed no trouble in rooting at least sixty or 

 eighty per cent, of the cuttings will be experienced. 



TOO BUSY TO READ. 



He is a familiar type — the fussy, fretful man who 

 imagines that he is about the busiest fellow in town. 



He often dumi)S in the wastebasket unwrapped co])ies 

 of business or technical magazines that contain valuable 

 articles bearing directly on his problems. He fondly l)e- 

 lieves that he is too busy practicing to bother with what 

 others are "preaching." 



The trouble with this type of man is that he has not 

 learned that the real executive is the man who so plans 

 his work as to leave a reasonable amount of time for 

 reading and planning. 



There are shoals and breakers ahead when the accumu- 

 lation of new ideas ceases. The man who declares he 

 has no time to read is unconsciously advertising his small 

 caliber, his slavery to detail, his arrested development. — 

 F.lJiott "Impressions." 



