420 



CUT -FLOWERS 



broad ribbons, to be carried iu the hand or over the 

 arm. The tiowers mostly used are roses and lilies-of- 

 the-valley. Tastes differ but little in the various cities, 

 there being a similarity in all the first-class work. There 

 is no essentially eastern or western flower. With the 

 possible exception of some varieties of carnations, the 

 assortment of flowers will be found the same the country 

 over. In the census of 1890 Cut-flowers were estimated 

 to make more than one-half of the florist's business. 

 One good book especially devoted to the business has 

 been produced, — the late M. A. Hunt's "How to Grow 

 Cut-flowers. ' Robert Kift. 



CUTICLE. The outer surface of herbaceous parts of 

 plants. It consists of the outer walls of the epidermal 

 cells. These walls are much thickened and cutinized. 

 Minute waxy rods upon the cuticularized surface of 

 many fruits, such as the grape and plum, give to them 

 their peculiar bloom. The Cuticle is nearly impervious 

 to water. The preservation of fruits depends in large 

 measure upon the retention of moisture by the Cuticle. 

 Cacti and other desert plants have their epidermis re- 

 markably cuticularized. s^ -^y^ Rowlee. 



CUTTAGE. The operation and practice of growing 

 plants from severed parts. A cutting is the gardener's 

 name for a piece of the stem, root, rootstock or leaf, 

 which, if cut off and planted under suitable conditions, 

 will form new roots and buds, reproducing the parent 

 plant. This term is usually given to parts of the 

 stem; a part or the whole of the leaf, when so used, is 

 called a leaf-cutting; a piece of root or rootstock is called 

 a root-cutting. The scales of some bulbous plants, e. g., 

 the lily, can also be used as cuttings. A cion used in 

 grafting might be called a cutting which unites and 

 grows on the roots of another plant. See Graftage. 

 Plants obtained by division or layering are provided 

 with roots before they are detached from the parent 

 plants, and, therefore, are not properly cuttings. 



Multiplication by cuttings is a form of bud-propagation 

 iu contradistinction to sexual reproduction, i. e., propa- 

 gation by seeds. It is a cheap andconvenient way to obtain 

 plants. All plants cannot be profitably increased by these 

 means. Why they differ we do not know; the gardener 

 learns by experience what species yield a good per- 

 centage of healthy plants, and acts accordingly. 



The following table will show the different ways in 

 which cuttings are made : 



Soft 



. g., Verbena 



(1) CufUngs of Growing Wood.~¥\g. 018. These are 

 made either of the soft growing tips, as in coleus, salvia, 

 verbena, etc., or, of the same wood in more mature con- 

 dition, but by no means ripe, as in tender roses, Azalea 

 Indira, etc. The cuttings of plants like A'uphorbia 

 pitfcherrima, erica, epacris, etc., are used in the soft 

 growing state, if a well built propagating house is obtain- 

 able; but in an ordinary house, a part of which is used 

 for other purposes, the older and better ripened wood 

 will be more successful. It is generally true that cut- 

 tings of hardened wood will always root, although they 

 require more time and may not make the best plants. 



618. Cutting; of soft 

 grovvine wood. 

 (Coleus.) 



CUTTAGE 



but it is not true that cuttings of the soft wood will 

 always root. Inmany cases, as in the rose, they succumb 

 before they callus, much less produce roots. In plants 

 of rapid growth and good vitality, the proper condition 

 of the soft growing wood for cuttings can be determined 

 by its readiness to snap, not bend, 

 when bent back : the hardened wood 

 is in the right state as long as it con- 

 tinues to grow. 



The treatment of cuttings in both 

 classes is practically the same. 

 They should be planted in sand un- 

 der glass. Large establishments 

 have one or more houses set apart 

 for this and similar purposes. In 

 smaller places a propagating bed or 

 bench can be made at the warmest 

 end of the warmest house. It 

 should be placed over the pipes 

 where they leave the boiler, and, in 

 order to secure bottom heat when 

 needed, the space between the bench and the floor 

 should be boarded up, having a trap door to open on 

 cold nights (Fig. ()19). Cutting -frames inside a green- 

 house are also shown in Fig. 620. Side partitions 

 should also be provided to box in all the heat from the 

 pipes under that part of the bench. Good dimen- 

 sions for such a bed are, width 3 feet, length 6 feet or 

 any multiple of G, thus making it simple to use a hotbed 

 sash wnen confined air is wanted. The depth of the 

 frame should be from 6 to 10 inches in front and from 12 

 to 15 inches behind. The bottom of the bed may be 

 either wood, slate or metal and should be well drained: 

 place a layer of potsherds first, then moss, and from 2 to 

 3 inches of sand on top. The sand should be clean, 

 sharp and well compacted: before planting it should be 

 watered if at all dry. It is sometimes advisable to 

 have the bed filled with moss (sphagnum), into which 

 pots or boxes containing cuttings are plunged : the 

 moss should be moist, neither too wet nor dry, and well 

 packed. 



In many cases, when large quantities of one sort of 

 cuttings are to be planted, the ordinary greenhouse 



619. Section of propagating bed. 

 Shows four pipes beneath, the door on the side 

 the frame cover. 



bench covered with sand is sufficient (Pig. 621). Other 



forms of propagating beds are shown in Figs. 622, 623, 



624. See, also, Bailey's Nursery Book, 3d ed., pp. 44-53. 



The wood for cuttings should be fresh, and precau- 



