38 THE BOOK OF EVERGREENS. 



use ripened wood only. We have often we may say 

 very generally noticed after a few weeks' insertion quite 

 a number of the Irish Juniper cuttings, for instance, turn- 

 ing yellow, and the lower portion in a state of decay. 

 This is almost always attributed to the use of unripe 

 wood, and consequently the open spaces in the beds might 

 have been in a great measure avoided by throwing such 

 weak succulent growth on the brush heap. Cuttings are 

 generally prepared too small. We prefer them large and 

 vigorous, with all the immature tips removed down to the 

 ripened wood ; the latter being easily distinguished by the 

 light-brown color of the bark, whereas the younger and 

 unripened shoots are of a pale yellowish-green. 



The cutting with a heel, Figure 2, is perhaps the best, 

 and should always be selected when the subject is 

 difficult to manage; but in growing the easier 

 kinds, such as Arbor Vitses and Junipers, it is un- 

 necessary and expensive. Although opposed to 

 all good rules, and calculated to encourage neg- 

 ligence in the young gardener, yet the practice 

 of carefully taking off every leaf on the lower 

 end of the cuttings of Irish Junipers is super- 

 fluous, and maybe avoided where time is every- 

 thing to the energetic nurseryman. We have 

 always been careful to have every leaf cut off as 

 smoothly as possible, and never to allow a rough or jag- 

 ged edge to appear on any part of the cutting ; but we 

 feel bound to confess that the best strike we ever saw 

 was in a bed of cuttings prepared in a very careless man- 

 ner, by merely placing them on a board and drawing the 

 blade of a knife close along the stem, severing at one cut 

 all the leaves. Nevertheless, we believe too much care 

 cannot be exercised in making a smooth, clean cut at 

 the base of the shoot, and we always desire the knife to be 

 as sharp and smooth as possible. Most propagators make 

 this lower cut squarely across the wood, but we prefer 



