contrast, tree 5 is less vigorous and has fewer scaffold limbs. Whether this 

 type of growth has anything to do with the high percentage of rooting by 

 cuttings from tree 3 is unknown. Tree 8 is actually a closely-growing clump 

 of three main trunks, medium in age (about 20 years) and very vigorous. 

 This clump grows near a loading dock. Tree 9 in Table 4 represents 

 cuttings taken from several young trees I perhaps 10 to 15 years old ) at 

 the edge of the clearing at this general location. It is evident that the 

 clonal source of cuttings does make a great difference in rooting response. 

 Of especial interest is the contrast between rooting of those from Tree 5 

 (9 percent) and Tree 3 (43 percent). Both are old trees and high in sugar 

 yield, but differ in vigor and growth habit. 



It should be mentioned at this point that it is often difficult to collect 

 a large uniform group of cuttings from any one tree or clonal source. Fre- 

 quently the greenwood shoots are too short to make good cuttings. On the 

 other hand, cuttings from water-sprouts that are too long and have grown 

 too rapidly are prone to rot very readily. This must be taken into account 

 in making comparisons of effects of various factors, such as growth regu- 

 lators, media, etc., within a group of clonal material. 



In connection with the matter of clonal differences, it may be mentioned 

 that Muckadell ( 3 ) has presented some evidence that younger portions of 

 a woody plant are more active in many ways. It seemed desirable to de- 

 termine if cuttings taken from the topmost part of an old maple tree would 

 root better than those taken lower down. A small number of cuttings were 

 taken in 1957 from near the top of Tree 3 (a very tall tree), and records 

 kept of their rooting as compared to those taken in the usual way in an 

 area extending from the base of the foliage up to a height of about 16 or 

 20 feet. From a total of 111 cuttings taken from the top there were 43 

 rooted or a percentage of 39. Of the total number of 485 cuttings taken 

 lower on the tree. 279 or 57 percent rooted. On the basis of these rela- 

 tively few cuttings there is no advantage shown for taking them from the 

 top part of the tree. However, it is probably unsafe to regard this as very 

 conclusive evidence, since the sample was not large, and was taken for 

 only one season. 



The Survival of Rootecl Cuttings 



From the evidence presented here, and in the published report (2), the 

 problem of rooting fairly large numbers of sugar maple cuttings can be 

 regarded as being virtually solved. However, the additional problem of se- 

 curing their survival through one or more winters following their root- 

 ing is only partially resolved. 



It may be noted at this point that usually only the most vigorously 

 rooted cuttings were chosen for potting and keeping for survival tests. This 

 was true except in instances of clones where rooting was poor and scanty, 

 as in the cuttings of Tree 5. Examples of vigorous rooting and weak rooting 

 may be seen in Figure 2. Single, "club-shaped" roots of the type on the 

 bottom side of the photograph were very weak and easily broken. Rooted 

 cuttings of this type were usually discarded. 



Previous to the year 1955 all of the rooted maple cuttings had been potted 

 in early fall and later when fall rains started were set out in a specially 

 prepared nursery bed at the Horticultural Fann. These were mulched 

 rather deeply with sawdust after the ground was partly frozen, and were 



