,.4 THE NURSERY-BOOK. 



berry is shown in Fig. 46. (See Blackberry, in Chapter VI.) 

 A growing dracaena cutting is exhibited in Fig. 47. The cuttings 

 of this plant are handled in a propagating frame or on a cutting 

 bench in a warm greenhouse. The bouvardias and many other 

 plants can be grown in the same manner. Many of the fruit trees, 

 as peach, cherry, apple and pear, can be grown readily from these 

 short root cuttings in a frame. Variegation cannot always be 

 transmitted by root-cutting, e. g. , Symphytum asperrimum, varie- 

 gatmn. Among kitchen garden plants, the horse-radish is the 

 most familiar example of propagation by root-cuttings. The 

 small side roots, a fourth inch or so in diameter, are removed 

 when the horse-radish is dug in fall or spring, and are cut into 

 four to six inch lengths, as seen in Fig. 48. These cuttings are 

 known as "sets" among gardeners. (See Horse-radish, Chap. 



Fig. 48. Horse-radish root cuttings. 



ter VI.) When the crowns of horse-radish are cut and used for 

 propagation, the operation falls strictly under division, from the 

 fact that buds or eyes are present ; and the same remark applies 

 to rhubarb, which, however, is not propagated by true root- 

 cuttings. 



3. Stem Cuttings. Cuttings of the stem divide themselves 

 into two general classes : those known as cutting of the ripe, 

 mature or hard wood, and cuttings of the green, immature or 

 soft wood. The two classes run irrto each other ; no hard and 

 fast lines can be drawn. 



Hard-wood cuttings are made at any time from late summer 

 to spring. It is advisable to make them in the fall in order to 

 allow them to callus before the planting season, and to forestall 



