66 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS. 



Root cuttings are more often single buds, as in the case of fragments of 

 running roots or the subdivision of root-crowns, but this is rather different 

 from the single bud we are considering, for it usually has certain root-parts 

 already developed. 



From the difficulties encountered in securing rooting and top growth 

 from a one-bud cutting it is evident that a piece having several buds is to 

 be preferred not because one needs top-growth from more than one bud 

 nor because one has to cover buds into the ground to get roots for the 

 fact is that in woody cuttings roots do not come from buds nor necessarily 

 from near the buds, but grow first, at least, from the soft cellular sub- 

 stance which forms at the cut end of the cutting, and which is called the 

 callus. In herbaceous cuttings this is not necessarily true. The formation 

 of this callus depends upon adequate heat (differing with different plants) 

 and upon the requisite amount of moisture and the length of the cutting, 

 evidently serves two purposes; first, the protection of its own substance 

 from drying out by conserving the moisture which it brings from the plant 

 from which it has been severed ; second, penetration into the soil to a depth 

 where there will be permanent moisture below the drying of the surface. 

 But this penetration has its limits because callusing needs heat, and with 

 low heat proceeds slowly, and therefore must not reach down into cold 

 earth or standing water or mud, which, during the California rainy season, 

 when hard-wood cuttings are generally rooted in the open ground, are apt 

 to be encountered. Standing water also excludes air and invites decay in 

 some plant tissues. 



The length of the cutting, therefore, depends upon several conditions 

 the nature of the plant; the character of the soil as related to heat, moist- 

 ure and circulation of air; the anticipated additionfof water by rainfall or 

 irrigation; the amount of soil heating to be expected from the sun at that 

 time of the year, etc. If all of these are taken into consideration cuttings 

 of different plants may range in length from several inches to several feet. 

 One may take, for example, in the month of December, a cutting of a rose 

 bush, the thickness and length of a new lead pencil, and plant it with three- 

 fourths of its length in the ground and at the same time take a branch of a 

 locust tree six feet long and thick as his arm, and plant it one-fourth of its 

 length in the ground for a fence post. In the following May he may pick 

 roses from his rose bush and tie them into a bouquet with foliage from his 

 fence post. This specific statement may convey to distant readers a con- 

 crete demonstration of the character of the so-called winter months in 

 California. 



Manifestly one cannot be too arbitrary in prescribing length for cuttings, 

 but if the reader insists upon having a set of rules, let it be this : (1) Make 

 cuttings for rooting in open ground six to eight inches in length and from 

 one-quarter to one-half inch in thickness of wood, as you may find it. (2) 

 Make cuttings for growth under glass about one-half these dimensions. 



