PROPAGATION OF PLANTS BY CUTTINGS. 73 



tion of roots, but from the fact that when a slip is 

 cut at a joint the shoot has often become too hard at 

 that point, while half an inch higher np, or above the 

 joint, the proper condition would be found. The safest 

 rule for the novice to adopt in propagating all kinds of 



Fig. 21. PROPER AND IMPROPER CONDITIONS OF CUTTING. 



soft- wooded plants is to bend the cutting on the shoot ; 

 if it breaks or snaps, as in the upper part of figure 21, it 

 is in the right condition, but if it can be bent without 

 snapping, as shown in the lower part of the same figure, 

 it is then too hard. We know it will root even in this 

 hard condition, but it will root more slowly, and the roots 

 emitted will be hard and slender, and, ns a consequence, 

 will not be likely to produce a plant of the same vigor as 

 4 



