56 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS. 



in growth from a seed and from a bud, will be suggested in following 

 chapters. 



The office of the seed in the multiplication of plants is generally under- 

 stood, relied upon and does not need definition. Less attention is given to 

 the growth of a young plant from a bud of an old one and it is therefore 

 excusable to place a little more emphasis upon it in this connection. Well- 

 formed buds may be cleanly cut away from the branch of a woody plant, 

 with a morsel of the connecting tissue, and placed against the inner bark 

 (cambium) of another plant, and when it is protected from too great loss 

 or gain of moisture (sap) by proper tying down of the outer bark, it will 

 grow and make a new plant, if the root-force is restricted to its service. 

 This is what is commonly indicated by the term "budding." But "grafting," 

 or taking more of the tissue of the old plant in connection with the bud or 

 buds which are intended to grow, is also "budding." And propagating by 

 "cuttings," by which desirable buds, or tissue of root, stem or leaf capable 

 of forming buds, are taken from an old plant and treated in a way to die- 

 velop from a growth of cellular tissue (callus) roots, or roots direct with- 

 out callusing, which shall cause bud-growth, that is also, in a sense, 

 "budding" ; and so is "layering" or turning down a branch so that earth- 

 contact shall cause it to develop roots beneath a bud which pushes upward 

 to the light. The making of a new plant by "dividing the roots" of an old 

 one ; the taking of a bulblet from a bulb, or the planting of a "bulb-scale," 

 or any other recourse by which a younger plant is derived directly from 

 the tissue of an older one all are really propagation by "budding," because 

 it is the bud which holds the potentiality of the plant from which it is 

 separated, and will manifest it if its requirements of heat, moisture, sap- 

 pressure and light are duly met by the propagator. 



It is a teaching of experience, however, that different plants have 

 different attitudes toward the effort to reproduce them from buds, just as 

 different plants produce seeds which are easy to grow or grow with ex- 

 ceeding great difficulty. And thus it comes to pass that although theoretical 

 multiplication of plants, either from seeds or buds, is very simple, the prac- 

 tical doing of it has taxed the insight and ingenuity of propagators for 

 centuries, and there is still much to learn about it. Therefore the beginner 

 must expect to learn much from his own failures and successes, even 

 though the book-maker does his best in bringing to his assistance the 

 experience and observation of others. 



