168 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTUHE AND COTTAGE GARDENEU. 



[ Angost 96, im. 



being broDgbt OTer. It is very likely. It is stiff enongh to be 

 an old bachelor. It spreads ont no Bide branches. Its tup dies 

 early. It caste a penurious shadow. — Uekkv Waiid Ijeecueh. 



ROOTING TENDRILS AND LEAVES. 



1 QUITE agree wilh De Candolle in assigning the leaves of 

 plants to be " but a modilied, or changed form of branch ;" and 

 likewise am quite willing to agree with M. Lestiboudois that 

 the tendrils of the Grape Vine (I have not experimented wilh 

 the tendrils of any other class of plants), are nothing more 

 than homogeneous branches, not leaves. 



The reason I claim such to be the case is this: — I have re- 

 peatedly taken the leaf of the Grape Vine, and after detaching its 

 petiole from the stem have rooted it (the leaves) with the Eame 

 degree of certainly as the cuttings of the branches are rooted ; al- 

 though I must confeEs tUat they are longer in rooting, and 

 mnch longer iu throwing up a bud from the collar of the leaf 

 than the ordinary cuttings are ; but they will eventually throw 

 up a bud, and ultimately make as gcod a plant as the plant 

 gi'own from a single bud. After being so successful with the 

 leaves, I thouKht that I would tnke the tendrils in hand, and try 

 and see what I could make out of these. I accordingly, the past 

 season, put in several pots of tendrils of the llogers No. 1 

 variety, and after a long time was highly gratified to find that 

 the majority of them had emitted roots, and after being potted- 

 cff singly, several of them actually made leaves, and filled the 

 pots with fleshy, healthy roots, but did not show any buds 

 before the cold weather set iu end stopped their growing. I 

 am sorry to state, however, that I Lave lost these plants that 

 I had intended to have grown on next season. It will be 

 noticed that I have cslled these rooted tendrils, plants ; I call 

 cuttings of anything young plants, as soon as they have made 

 roots. My man, not being cognisant of these plants, threw 

 them away with the refuse.— Jasies Ciiarlion, llocltcstcr, New 

 York. 



[To this communication, published in the " American Gar- 

 dener's Monthly," Mr. E. I'Vyer, of Naperville, adds the fol- 

 lowing remarks in a subsequent numberof the same periodical.] 



Almost every observing gardener accustomed to the growing 

 of Grape Vines, foreign and native, will have noticed on strong- 

 growing, healthy Vines, that a tendril will sometimes change 

 its form and become a miniature branch, small leaves showing 

 on the upper part of the extended tendril. This fict, I think, 

 goes to show that such tendrils at least are rather moie than 

 "modified leaves." 



I have in many instances taken the leafy part of this tendril, 

 when it acquired the proper condition, cut it up in pieces with 

 a leaf at each, and rooted them in the ordinary way ; the se- 

 cond season they will make strong plants, but as to whether 

 they would bear fiuit as well as cuttings struck from bearing 

 wood, I have not yet had any experience. Healthy leaves I 

 have struck with certainty and ease, and in one season they 

 become a plant perfect in all its parts. With the tendiil only, 

 1 confess 1 have not been so successful as Mr. Charlton. I 

 Lave rooted them occasionally, but never succeeded in obtain- 

 ing a perfect plant having either leaf or branch. If Mr. Charl- 

 ton means by tendril what is generally understood as such, 

 having no leafy appeudages whatever, and has obtained from 

 these leafy plants that ripened, he has accomplished a feat 

 which, though it may not be of value to the public, is certainly 

 new and interesting to the general propagator. The tendiils 

 of the Cobaii scandens and many other strong-growing 

 climbers will root as well as those of the Grape Vine, but re- 

 quire considerable time — from thirty to one hundred days, for 

 the rooting process. In every instance I have failed to obtain 

 a perfect plant from any of them that I have experimented 

 with. Not so with the leaves ; the Hose, Dahlia, Cobsea, Lo- 

 phospermnm, raseiflora, &c., will all strike at the base of 

 the leaf and become perfect plants in one season. The leaf of 

 the Hoya, if taken from a healthy plant, will generally make a 

 plant with a growing shoot the first season ; but sometimes if 

 taken from a plant that is not vigorous, or from near the base, 

 owing probably to a want of due development in the leaf itself, 

 though it will root, it may remain in a semi-dormant condition 

 for years without sending up a shoot. Almost everyone is ac- 

 quainted with the method of propagating the Begonias, Gloxi- 

 nias, &c., from leaves, which, by being gently pressed on warm 

 sand or earth, make roots, and soon send up leaves, making 

 many, yet perfect plants from a single leaf. These facts, 

 thongh only some, perhaps none, of them are new, yet simple 



as the; are, in the hands of a practical man go far to prove the 

 correctness of the theory of the man of science, De Candolle, 

 that " the leaves of plants are only a changed form of branohee." 



The practice of striking green cuttings of all the more com- 

 mon bedding plants, and al.-'o of hardwooded plant.;, sach ae 

 the Camellia, Tea plants, .tc, when these latter are struck 

 from green cuttings, with only a leaf and small piece of stem 

 to each cutting, is also in support of I>e CandoUc's theory. 

 Take away the leaf and the cutting will not strike ; in most 

 cases if the leaf is destroyed after the roots are formed the 

 plant will die. In the hands of experienced propagators there 

 is a wonderful power in a healthy leaf. The creed of the old- 

 school gardeners, " an eye for a root, and an eye for a shoot," 

 is wholly ignored by our American practice of the present 

 lime. We pay no attention whatever to an eye or bnd at the 

 base of the cutting, unless the cuttings are so short aa to re- 

 quire it, but it is not at all necessary to its rooting. Aa an 

 instance, with Verbenas, which are now required in such mnl- 

 titudes, we cut off all the soft part of the young shoots, and 

 these are cut up in pieces with only a pair of leaves on the top, 

 no bud at the bottom of the cuttings, unless required as above 

 stated. Most other bedding plants the same. 



The Camellia which, by the old English practice of striking 

 ripened cuttings of the single red vaiiety for stocks, required 

 from eight to twelve months for rooting, is now accomplished 

 in from six to eight weeks when green cuttings are used. With 

 us the rooting of the Camellia is not confined to the single 

 variety, but is applied to nearly all varieties, the old but beanti- 

 fal Alba plena being one of the freest-rooting of all. While on 

 the subject, I will here state what may seem strange to some, that 

 here in the West the Alba plena on its own roots is longer- 

 lived and more healthy than when worked on the single stock. 

 So of that celebrated variety, Sarah Frost ; it grows as strongly, 

 if not more so, on its own roots than when inarched or grafted. 



TREE-PRUXER. 

 Fig. 2, shows how the scissors are operated by a handle, 

 which gives great power by the leverage, and very large limbs 

 can be cut off with ease. >'/;/. 1, shows the taw arrangement. 



4 



i 



Fig. I. 



Fi?. 2. 



which is closed in fig. 2, opened out and ready for use. Wo 

 have had opportunities of examining many kinds of tree- 

 prnners lately, and find this the best of all. — (American 

 Gardener's Monthly.) 



WILL THE WELLINGTONIA GIGANTEA THRIVE 



HEREAFTER? 



To disparage Black Hamburgh Grapes, Green Gage Plums, 



Jargonelle Pears, and some other kinds cf fruit, has much the 



appearance of horticultural treason ; and if this be the case 



