226 ON PROP A OA TION B Y CUTTINGS. 



or have been raised by cuttings or layers. The Eobinia, Acacia, 

 Gleditschia, Coronilla, Gymnocladus, and many other leguminosae ; 

 Ailantus, Catalpa, the balsam Ontario and Lombardy poplars, the 

 English elm, the mulberry, the Maclura, various other ligneous plants, 

 and all plants whatever that throw up suckers, may be increased by 

 cuttings of the roots ; as may a great number of herbaceous peren- 

 nials. The best mark for such as strike most readily by pieces of the 

 root is an abundance of thick viscid juice, as in the genera Rhus, 

 Papaver, Ailantus, Gymnocladus, &c., which strike more freely than 

 Cydonia, roses, thorns, &c., which have less. The best time of taking 

 them off is when the plants are in a dormant state, and all that is 

 required is a clean cut at both ends. 



Striking Cuttings in Water or Moist Moss. All marsh plants having 

 leafy stems, whether ligneous or herbaceous, will strike root in water, 

 and still better in vessels containing moss kept thoroughly moist. 

 Besides marsh plants, a great many others will root in this way, which, 

 indeed, seems the most ancient mode of artificial propagation. Cuttings 

 of narcissus, vines, figs, &c.,have often been rooted in phials of water. 

 The chief difficulty attending this mode of propagation is the trans- 

 ference of the rooted cuttings from the water to the soil, which can hardly 

 be done without a severe check. 



Propagation by Joints and Nodules. This mode of propagation is 

 founded on the principle, that every bud, whether visible or adven- 

 titious, is capable of being made to produce a plant ; and it only differs 

 from propagating by cuttings, in the buds or joints being taken off the 

 plant with a smaller quantity of nutritive matter attached to them. 

 Plants are also propagated by inserting the buds under the bark of 

 other plants ; but this mode, which is called budding, will form the 

 subject of a separate notice. As bulbs are only buds, nature may be 

 said to employ this mode of propagation in the case of some species of 

 bulb-bearing plants, such as Allium and Lilium, in which the buds 

 frequently drop from the stems on the soil, and root into it. All the 

 offsets of bulbs are of course buds, and may be employed in propaga- 

 tion ; the nutriment to the young plant being supplied from the scales, 

 which eventually elongate into leaves, and the roots proceeding from 

 the plate or base to which these scales are attached. The buds, with 

 the exception of bulbs, which are taken from the stems, branches, or 

 roots of plants, for the purpose of being rooted in the soil, always con- 

 tain a portion of the stem or root, to supply them with nourishment 

 till they are able, by the roots they form, to abstract it from the soil. 

 In the cuse of the vine, a joint is commonly taken ; but in that of the 

 potato, a single bud, with a portion of the underground stem or tuber 

 attached, is found sufficient. There are very few plants, besides the 

 vine and the potato, which are at present propagated by rooting buds 

 or joints in the soil, though there can be no doubt that this mode is 

 applicable to a great number of plants with which it has not yet been 

 tried. The late Mr. Brown, of the Hampstead Nursery, was very suc- 

 cessful in striking camellias in this way. Plunged in a strong bottom- 

 heat covered with bell-glasses, every leaf with its embryo distinct, 



