350 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



PRO 



above mentioned, and placed in the "window 

 of a south or east room, where the thermom- 

 eter does not average less than sixty-five 

 degrees. Success would be more complete, 

 however, if panes of glass were placed over 

 the seeds, resting on the edge of the box an 

 inch or so from the soil. This would prevent 

 evaporation, and render watering less neces- 

 sary. 

 Pkopagation of Plants by Cuttings. As now 

 understood, this is a simple matter. Forraerlj' 

 no operation in horticulture was more be- 

 fogged by ignorant pretenders, who, in writ- 

 ing or speaking on the subject, so warped the 

 operation with troublesome conditions as to 

 discourage, not only amateurs in horticulture, 

 but inexperienced professional gardeners as 

 well. 



One of the first necessarj' conditions in the 

 propagation of plants by cuttings is, that the 

 plant from which the cutting or slip is taken 

 must be in vigorous health. If weak or tainted 

 by disease, failure is almost certain to result. 

 If, for example, we wish to root cuttings of 

 green-house or bedding plants, such as Bou- 

 A'ardias, Chrysanthemums, Fuchsias, Geran- 

 iums, Heliotropes, Salvias, Verbenas, etc., 

 one of the best guides to the proper condition 

 is when the cutting breaks or snaps clean off 

 instead of bending or kneeing ; if it snaps off 

 so as to break, then it is in the condition to 

 root freely ; if it bends it is too old and though 

 it will root, it will root much slower, and make 

 a weaker plant than the slip that snaps oft" on 

 being bent. With exceptions so few, and 

 those of so little importance that it is hardly 

 worth while to allude to them, cuttings of all 

 kinds root freely from slips taken from the 

 young irood, that is, the succulent growth, 

 before it gets hardened, and when in the con- 

 dition indicated by the " snapping test," as it 

 is called. We believe we were the first to call 

 attention to this valuable test of the condition 

 of the cutting (snapping) in our work, "Prac- 

 tical Floriculture," first published in 1868. A 

 very general idea is current, that cuttings 

 must be cut at or below an eye or joint. The 

 practice of this system leads undoubtedlj^ to 

 many cases of failure ; not that the cutting at 

 or below a joint either hinders or assists the 

 formation of roots, but from the fact that, 

 when a slip is cut at a joint, the shoot often 

 has become too hard at that point, while half 

 an inch higher up or above the joint, the 

 proper condition will be found. We know 

 that it will root even when in the too hard 

 condition, but the roots emitted will be hard 

 and slender, and, as a consequence, will not 

 be likely to make a plant of the same vigor as 

 that made from the cutting in the proper 

 state ; besides, as the hard cutting takes 

 double the time to root, its chances of damp- 

 ing off from unfavorable atmospheric con- 

 ditions are thus increased. With these in- 

 structions for the proper state of the cutting, 

 we now proceed to describe the medium 

 wherein it is to be placed, and the conditions 

 of temperature, moisture, etc. If these are 

 strictly followed, failure is an impossibiltj-; 

 for the laws governing the rooting of a slip 

 are as certain as those governing the germi- 

 nation of a seed. In our own practice, when 

 these conditions are strictly followed, failure 

 is unknown. 

 The most proper condition of temperature 



PRO 



to root cuttings of the great majority of green- 

 house and bedding plants is sixty-five degrees 

 of bottom heat, indicated by a thermometer 

 plunged in the sand of the bench, and an 

 atmospheric temperature of fifteen degrees 

 less. A range of ten degrees may be allowed, 

 that is, five degrees lower or five degrees 

 higher, but the nearer the heat of the sand 

 can be kept to sixty-five degrees, and that of 

 the rest of the house to fifty degrees, the 

 more perfect the success will be. 



Sand is the best medium in which to place 

 cuttings; color or texture is of no special 

 importance. What we use is the ordinary sand 

 used by builders ; this is laid on the hot-bed 

 or bench of the green-house to the depth of 

 about three inches and firmly packed down. 

 When " bottom heat" is wanted, the flue or 

 pipes under the bench of the green-house are 

 boarded in so that the heat strikes the bottom 

 of the bench, thus raising the temperature in 

 the sand. 



From the time the cuttings are inserted in 

 the sand until they are rooted, they should 

 never be allowed to get dry ; in fact, our prac- 

 tice is to keep the sand soaked with water, the 

 cutting bench being watered copiously every 

 morning, and often, when the atmosphere is 

 dry, again in the evening. Kept thus satur- 

 ated, there is less chance of the cutting getting 

 wilted, either by heat from the sim or from fire 

 heat ; for if a cutting once gets wilted, its 

 juices are expended, and it becomes in the 

 condition of a hard cutting, in the condition in 

 which, when bent, it will not snap nor break, 

 which has already been described. To avoid 

 this wilting or flagging of the cutting, every 

 means that Avill suggest itself to the propa- 

 gator is to be used. Our practice is to shade 

 and ventilate in the propagating house or hot- 

 bed just as soon in the forenoon as the action 

 of tlie sun's rays on the glass raises the tem- 

 perature of the house to sixtj'-five degrees or 

 seventy degrees. This practice of ventilating 

 the propagating house or hot-bed is, we are 

 aware, not in very common use ; many con- 

 tending that the place where the propagating 

 is done should at all times be kept close. We 

 have tried both methods long enough and 

 extensively enough to satisfy us beyond all 

 question, that ventilating and propagating 

 at a low temperature is capable of producing 

 a larger number of plants during the season 

 than at a high temperature and in a close 

 atmosphere. There need be no failures ; and 

 it has the important advantage of producing 

 a healthy stock, which the close or high tem- 

 perature system would fail to do in the case 

 of many plants. We have often heard propa- 

 gators boasting of rooting cuttings in five 

 days. We are well aware that this may be 

 done, but we are also aware that it is often 

 done in damp and cloudy weather at the risk 

 of the whole crop, and it must be done at a 

 high temperature, which at all times causes 

 the plants to draw up slender, and thus impairs 

 their vigor. 



Permitting a moderate circulation of air in 

 the propagating house tends to prevent the 

 germination of that spider-web-like substance 

 which, for want of a better term, is known 

 among gardeners as the " fungus of the cut- 

 ting bench." Everyone who has had any ex- 

 perience in propagating, knows the baneful 

 effects of this ; how that, in one night, it will 



