32 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 347 



root more rapidly- as a result of treatment are less likely to die unrooted than are 

 cuttings which, without treatment, root more slowly. The life of unrooted cuttings 

 is limited and they either root or rot. If they rot, it is partly because they did not 

 root, but if they do not root, it is not necessarily and only because they rot; 

 and such experience as the writer has had with these treatments does not indicate 

 that they are fungicidal. 



Species which not only rooted more rapidly, but also in decidedly larger per- 

 centages after treatment with indolebutyric acid than without it, when cuttings 

 were taken at these specified times, included: Passiflora racemo'ia Brot. (last 

 of June); Ilex crenata Thunb., /. yunnanensis Franch., Cyrilla racemiflora L., and 

 Pentstetnon Scouleri Dougl. (first of September); Stewartia koreana Nakai, and 

 Franklinia (first of August). Similar treatment with indoleacetic acid (usually 

 0.10 gm. in 1000 cc. water for 24 hours or 0.05 gm. in 1000 cc. for 48 hours) im- 

 proved the rooting of cuttings of these species: Lespedeza formosa Koehne (middle 

 of October); Taxus media Rehd. var. Hicksii Rehd., T. cuspidata Sieb. & Zucc. 

 var. densa Rehd., Picea pungens Engelm. var., Chamaecyparis pisifera Endl. var. 

 squarrosa Beiss. & Hochst., C. obtusa Endl., C. obtusa Endl. var. aurea Beiss. 

 and C. obtusa Endl. var. nana Carr. (last of December). 



The importance of the time of taking the cuttings cannot be overemphasized 

 whether or not cuttings are to be treated. Cuttings of Picea glauca Voss. var. 

 conica Rehd. rooted better when taken in December than when taken in October 

 and those taken in December were more benefited by these treatments. 



Cuttings of many species, taken when they were, rooted equally poorly with 

 and without treatments, there being no apparent benefit to the varieties of Nor- 

 way spruce, for instance, when taken in December, or to several species of Rhodo- 

 dendron taken in November and December. This was true also of Cotoneaster 

 horizontalis Decne., with cuttings taken the first of October, although cuttings 

 of this species rooted well, even without treatment, if taken by the middle of 

 June. Franklinia, similarly, rooted very poorly, with or without treatment, if 

 cuttings were taken early in September, although their rooting was improved by 

 indolebutyric acid when they were taken a month earlier. Generally speaking, 

 and with some exceptions, cuttings of harder wood were less benefited by these 

 treatments than were cuttings of the same species taken a little earlier. 



If treatment with indolebutyric acid was ineffective, so, in most cases, was 

 treatment with indoleacetic acid. Rooting of cuttings of Genista pilosa L. and of 

 Taxus cuspidata Sieb. & Zucc. var. Thayerae was, however, benefited more by 

 indoleacetic than by indolebutyric acid. 



Although most cuttings were treated immediately before insertion, those of a 

 few species were inserted without treatment, removed and treated two weeks 

 later, and then reinserted. This was done with the thought that such a delayed 

 treatment, if efifective, may be useful in the case of cuttings which are not rooting 

 as they should or which, for any reason, were not treated before the original 

 insertion. Such treatment (with indoleacetic acid) improved the rooting of cuttings 

 of Japan quince and of Enkianthus subsessilis Mak., but was of no value in the 

 case of cuttings which had begun to decay before treatment, as had those of 

 Lonicera alpigena L., and was slightly injurious to cuttings of buttonbush which 

 had already begun to develop roots. 



Treatment with formic acid (0.2 or 0.4 gm. in 1000 cc. for 24 hours) improved 

 the rooting of cuttings of Viburnum dilatatum Thunb., Ilex crenata Thunb., and 

 Hypericum sp. The use of this chemical is now being further investigated, for the 

 writer has found that, in greater concentrations, it has fungicidal properties and 

 it is less expensive than the chemicals above mentioned. 



With a view to preventing infection of cuttings in sand-peat moss inoculated 



