PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 85 



suppose a good garden border to be composed of. Rooted 

 plants can endure extremes, but cuttings require the most 

 f.ivorable circumstances. 



Time to plant. The fall would be the better season 

 to plant all cuttings, if we could cover them so as to pre- 

 vent the frost from heaving them out. It is on account 

 of this difficulty that we plant, from necessity, in the 

 spring ; but spring planting must be done very early, that 

 vegetation may proceed gradually. If late planted, warm 

 weather comes on them at once, before they have formed 

 roots sufficient to support the demands of the young 

 leaves. Where only a few are grown, shading might, at 

 certain times, be given, and some light substance, like 

 sawdust, be spread about them, to preserve an even tem- 

 perature and humidity, or they might be put in a cold- 

 frame, where they could receive any required attention. 

 Where acres of cuttings are grown, these things are not 

 practicable. 



Depth to plant. As a general thing, cuttings should be 

 inserted so deep, that only two buds will be above the 

 surface of the ground, and in the vine only one. If cut- 

 tings are long, they need not be set perpendicularly, but 

 sloping, so as to be within reach of heat and air. A 

 cutting of a single eye of the vine, with a piece of wood 

 attached, must be entirely covered say half an inch 

 deep ; see figures 58 to 62, ground line, A, B. But such 

 cuttings are seldom planted, except in pots, in houses, or 

 in hot-beds. 



Preserving Cuttings. If cuttings are not planted in 

 the autumn, they should at least be prepared quite early 

 in the winter, and be buried in the earth, out of doors, in 

 a pit. A mound of earth should be drawn up over the 

 pit to throw off water. At the very first favorable mo- 

 ment in the spring, they should be planted. Trenches 

 are opened as deep as necessary with a spade, and the 

 cuttings set in it at the proper distances, from three inches 



