CUTTINGS AND GRAFTS 



27 



69. Cuttings of Leaves. Some plants 

 are regularly propagated by leaf-cuttings. 

 See paragraph 58. Begonias of the "foliage" 

 kinds are the most frequent examples. 

 Sometimes the leaf is cut to wedge-shaped 

 parts, each part with a midrib and a bit of 

 the leaf-stalk; from the point which is put 

 in the earth a new plant arises, as shown 

 in Fig. 41. Gardeners often cut the begonia 

 leaf across and set the severed edge in the 

 earth; sometimes they lay the leaf flat on 

 the earth and peg it down at intervals. 

 The leaf should be nearly or quite mature, 

 but still full of vigor. 



70. The Graft. When the cutting is 

 inserted in a plant rather than in the soil, 

 we have a graft; and the graft may grow. 

 In this case the cutting grows fast to the 



ther P lant > and 



the two become 

 one. When the cutting is inserted 

 in a plant, it is no longer called a 

 cutting, but a don] and the plant 

 in which it is inserted is called the 

 stock. Fruit trees are grafted in 

 order that a certain variety or kind 

 may be perpetuated. 



71. Plants have preferences as 

 to the stocks on which they will 

 grow; but we can find out what 

 their choice is only by making the 

 experiment. The pear grows well 

 on the quince, but the quince does 



not grOW SO Well On the pear. The 



pear grows on some of the haw- 



40. Currant cutting. 



41. Triangular leaf-cutting 

 of begonia or "beefsteak geran- 



