PROP A GA TION BY LEA VES. 



231 



are frequently metamorphosed into leaves, and even shoots, in warm, 

 moist seasons, and from these there can be no doubt plants could, 

 in many cases, be raised by taking them off and treating them as 

 cuttings. 



The essence of all the different modes of forming plants from cut- 

 tings may thus be stated. Wherever a joint of the ripened wood of a 

 plant, or of the unripened wood, with a leaf or leaves, can be procured, 

 it is probable that a rooted plant may be produced by proper treat- 

 ment ; that in many cases, especially where the leaves are large, a bud 



Fig. 179. 



with a leaf attached will produce a plant ; 

 that in a number of cases plants may be 

 produced from leaves alone, and that in 

 some cases they may be even produced 

 from parts of leaves, from the calyxes, and 

 other parts of flowers, and from imma- 

 ture fruits. That to render more certain 

 the rooting of a cutting or a bud, or even 

 a leaf, it is advisable partially to separate 

 it from the parent plant some days, weeks, 

 or, in some cases, months, before it is en- 

 tirely taken off, by cutting a shoot half 



through immediately under a joint or Wedges inserted above and below 

 leaf, and keeping the wound open, if 

 necessary, with a wedge, as in fig. 179, 

 , or by ringing under each bud, as in 

 fig. 180, r,. That, in regard to soil, the safe mode is to plant in pure 

 sand, with a layer of the soil in which the plant delights below ; and, 

 in regard to light, that the cuttings should in all cases, when they 

 are under glass, be placed as close to it as pos- 

 sible. Finally, that in regard to woody plants, 

 those with the leaves on, and the wood half- 

 matured at the lower end of the shoot, will root 

 more readily than shoots of ripened wood with- 

 out the leaves. Camellia shoots of the season, 

 put in in July or August, will be rooted by 

 December, while those not put in till Sep- 

 tember, will not root till the following spring. 

 That the rooting of cuttings with the leaves on 

 depends very much on the action of light, is 

 proved by the following experiment made by 

 M. Caie : A pot of cuttings of Monsoa incisi- 

 folia was placed in a close pit, at two feet from 

 the glass; another at two feet three inches; 

 and a third at two feet six inches. The cut- 

 tings in the first pot were rooted, but very 

 little advanced in growth ; those in the second 

 were elongated in the tops, but had only 

 callosities at the lower ends of the cuttings; 

 and those of the third pot were grown as high or higher than those 



bud* to check the flow of the 

 sap, and excite them to produce 

 shoots. 



180. 



late sap at the base of the 

 buds, and prepare them 

 for thromng out roots 

 when they are taken of 

 and planted. 



