^ PLANT 



It requires considerable experience to en- 

 able the amateur gardener to decide when 

 the branch of a plant is in just the right 

 condition to make a cutting. It should not 

 be soft and pulpy from recent growth. It 

 should not be so old as to have a hard, tough 

 bark. Writers on this subject tell us that half- 

 ripened wood should be used, meaning by 

 that a branch that is neither young or old — 

 in other words, one in an intermediate stage 

 of development. It is not an easy matter to 

 tell when this half-way stage of development 

 has been reached, by the looks of the branch. 

 But if it is given a sharp bend, it will, in the 

 majority of cases, if at the right stage to make 

 a cutting, partially break, but some of its 

 fibers will be elastic enough to stand the strain 

 without breaking. This rule, if rule it can 

 be called, does not apply to all plants, for 

 some have stalks of such a brittle nature, in 

 all periods of development, that they snap 

 readily under ever so slight a bend. These 

 must be judged by a feeling of hardness which 

 indicates maturity. 



Immature wood often decays before it has had 

 time to form the callus necessary to the develop- 

 ment of roots, while over-ripe seems unable to 



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