296 PROPAGATION" OF PLANTS. 



desired is to secure the development of one or more buds on each cut- 

 ting by the time the weather will permit of planting them in the open 

 ground in spring. These root cuttings may be sown in drills and cov- 

 ered with good rich soil to the depth of two inches, and water applied to 

 settle the ground, or it may be packed slightly with the back of a hoe or 

 light roller. Good strong plants are usually produced from such root 

 cuttings the first season. With the more delicate, tender varieties, like 

 the Teas and Bourbons, the roots should be treated as recommended for 

 those of the Bouvardia which see. 



Rubus (Raspberry, Blackberry). A large and interesting genus of 

 plants, the species pretty widely distributed over the world. Some of 

 the species are strong, large, upright shrubs with perennial woody stems ; 

 in others as with most of our cultivated species and varieties the stems 

 are biennial that is, growing one season, fruiting the next, and dying 

 down in the latter part of summer or early autumn. The few herbaceous 

 species are natives of cold climates, while the evergreen are mostly in- 

 digenous to warm or tropical ones. In the propagation of these fruits, 

 seed is seldom employed, except for the purpose of producing new vari- 

 eties, and it may be sown as soon as taken from the ripe berries, or the 

 latter may be dried, and the seeds preserved in good condition for several 

 years, and when wanted for sowing it is only necessary to soak the dried 

 fruit for a few hours in warm water, wash out the seeds, and sow in good 

 soil, watering the bed freely until the.plants appear and are large enough 

 for transplanting. The ornamental Brambles, as represented in the 

 Atlantic States by the Purple-Flowered Raspberry (R. odomtus), and in 

 the Western and Pacific Coast regions by the Salmon-Berry (72. Nutka- 

 nus), and one or two other closely allied species, and from China by the 

 Rose-Flowered Raspberry (It. roscefolius), are rarely cultivated for their 

 fruit, although it is edible, but rather deficient in flavor. The species 

 most valued for their fruit belong to the two groups known as true gar- 

 den Raspberries and Blackberries. There are upright-growing and trail- 

 ing species, and varieties in both groups. Those with a trailing habit 

 increase naturally by a natural process, called rooting, or taking root at 

 the tips, the long, flexible canes bending over and taking root, as seen 

 in the varieties of the Black-caps (R. occidcntalis), among the Rasp- 

 berries, and in the Low Blackberry or Dewberry (R. Canadensis). The 

 trailing species do not produce suckers, but sometimes numerous sprouts 

 spring up from around the base of the main stems, and the old stools 

 may be taken up and divided into several plants, when such a mode of 

 propagation is desirable for the more rapid increase of a variety. The 

 upright-growing species of both groups produce suckers more or less 

 freely ; these latter are employed in their propagation, and taken 

 up in spring or fall, and set out to make new plantations. But in the 

 propagation of the garden Blackberries, better plants may be raised by 

 root cuttings than are produced naturally in the form of suckers, and 

 the same is true of such varieties of the Raspberry, as the Purple Cane, 

 Philadelphia, and Shaffer's Colossal, because when raised from root cut- 



