CUTTINGS OF GROWING WOOD. 



65 



cactuses, many euphorbias and yuccas. Sections of these 

 spongy trunks will grow, also. Truncheons of cycad 

 trunks may also give rise to plants (see Chapter VI.). 

 Even saw-logs of our common trees, as elm and ash, will 

 sprout while in the "boom," or water. 



Green-wood cuttings are more commonly employed than 

 those from the mature wood, as they " strike" more 

 quickly, they can be handled under glass in the winter, and 

 more species can be propagated by them than by hard-wood 

 cuttings. ''Slips" are green-wooded cuttings, but the term 

 is often restricted to designate those which are made by 

 pulling or ''slipping" off a small side-shoot, and it is com- 

 monly applied to the multiplication of plants in window- 

 gardens. All soft-wooded plants and many ornamental 

 shrubs are increased by green cuttings. There are two gen- 

 eral classes of green-wood cuttings : those made from the 

 soft and still growing wood ; and those made from the 

 nearly ripened green wood, 

 as in Azalea Indica^ oleander 

 ficus, etc. House plants, as 

 geraniums, coleuses, carna- 

 tions, fuchsias, and the like, 

 are grown from the soft 

 young wood, and many 

 harder- wooded plants are 

 grown in the same way. Sometimes 

 true hard wood is used, as in 

 camellia. 



In making cuttings from soft and 

 growing shoots, the first thing to learn. 

 is the proper texture or age of shoot. 

 A very soft and flabby cutting does 

 not grow readily, or if it does it is 

 particularly liable to damp-off, and it 

 usually makes a weak plant. Too old wood is slow to 

 root, makes a poor, stunted plant, and is handled with diffi- 

 culty in many species. The ordinary test for beginners 



Tough and brittle 



