154 PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



entirely excluded from the light, or wholly buried in the 

 soil ; ^orjn making them, the leaves arc left, on that 

 part of the cutting which remains above ground when 

 planted. If^cover^dj entirely, a we do with decidu- 

 ous cuttings, they would soon.Nlec#y. The leaves of 

 our hardy evergreen coniferous plants are covered 

 with a compact epidermis, which does not permit 

 them to either absorb or exhale moisture very rapidly 

 when in a dormant state, and this peculiarity in struc- 

 ture admits of their being placed in such a position that 

 roots will form while their leaves do not suffer. In cold 

 climates they should be placed in what are termed cold 

 frames, and covered with glass that has been dimmed 

 with some kind of a wash that will prevent the direct 

 rays of the sun reaching them, and still admit sufficient 

 light to keep them in health. In the coldest weather the 

 frames may be covered with straw mats to keep out the- 

 cold and prevent severe freezing. The Arbor-vitees, 

 Evergreen Box, Yews and Junipers, are quite readily 

 propagated from cuttings made of the dormant wood in 

 the fall, although this mode of propagating these trees is 

 seldom practised, probably because there are others less 

 hazardous, and perhaps more convenient. 



CHAPTEE XII. 



BY CUTTINGS OFJMMATURE GROWTHS. 

 ~ ^s*^Z . - 



"When propagating by quttings of the young, growing, 

 > wopjiLop succulent parts of "l^erbaceous plants, we^ar^ 

 operating with an active vegetation instead of one that is 

 dormant. In the cuttings made from ripe wood, there 

 is a supply of organized material from which roots are 

 produced ; but in those made'from the young and grow- 

 ing parts of plants, this is only jnji state of transmutation, 



