PLANT PROPAGATION 



269 



Soft-wooded Cuttings 



You can easily multiply your shrubs and even Roses during the 

 Summer if you will make slips, and be sure to get them short. Three 

 inches is long enough. The shp should have a few leaves at top; the 

 others should be removed. This type of cutting is called a soft-wooded 

 cutting. Cuttings have no roots, no method of taking up food from 

 the soil so that food stored in the stem and leaves which should produce 

 roots is lost by evaporation if too much foliage remains on the cutting; 

 if the leaves are large they are often trimmed smaller. The cuttings, 



when made, should 

 be placed in a box 

 of sand or directly 

 in the soil if it is 

 sandy. Put the cut- 

 tings in rather deeply 

 and firm them in very 

 sohdly. If there is a 

 large glass jar or bell- 

 glass handy, use it 

 to cover those plants 

 which you usually 

 think are a little more 

 difficult to root, such 

 as Roses. But all 

 cuttings, whether 



DahUa root, showing young shoots starting and 

 where to cut apart (c) 



covered with glass 

 or not should have 

 a shading. A good 

 place for the cuttings 

 would be under the 

 Grape vines where 

 there is always ample 

 shade. Water them 

 thoroughly. Firm 

 them in sand solidly, 

 give them shade, and 

 water carefully. Cut- 

 tings of any sort 

 should not be placed 

 right where they are 

 to grow. 



Jerusalem Artichoke tuber. Note the eyes; unlike 

 those of the Dahlia they are on the tuber itself 



