6O CUTTAGE. 



mis, from which adventitious buds may develop. The 

 pseudo-bulbs of some orchids are treated in this manner, 

 or the whole bulb is sometimes planted. A shoot, usually 

 termed an off-shoot, arises from each pseudo-bulb or each 

 piece of it, and this is potted off as an independent plant. 

 (See Orchids, in Chapter VI.) 



Cuttings made from the ordinary stems of some tuber- 

 iferous plants will produce tubers instead of plants. This 

 is the case with the potato. The stem cutting produces 

 a small tuber near its lower extremity, or sometimes in 

 the axil of a leaf above ground, and this tuber must be 

 planted to secure a new plant. Leaf cuttings of some 

 tuberiferous or bulbiferous plants produce little tubers or 

 bulbs in the same way (see the gloxinia, Fig. 81). 

 Hyacinth leaves, inserted in sand in a frame, will soon 

 produce little bulblets at their base, and these can be re- 

 moved and planted in the same manner as the bulbels 

 described in Chapter II. 



Many tubers or tuber-like portions, which possess a 

 very moist or soft interior and a hard or close covering, 

 vegetate more satisfactorily if allowed to dry for a time 



before planting. The 

 pseudo - bulbs of orchids, 

 crowns of pine-apples, and 

 cuttings of cactuses are 

 examples. Portions of 



62. Root cutting of blackberry (x}6). , , 



cactuses and pine-apples 



are sometimes allowed to lie in the sun from two to four 

 weeks before planting. This treatment dissipates the 

 excessive moisture, and induces the formation of adven- 

 titious buds. 



Root Cuttings. Many plants can be multiplied with 

 ease by means of short cuttings of the roots, particularly 

 all species which possess a natural tendency to "sucker" 

 or send up sprouts from the root. All rootstocks or 

 underground stems can be made into cuttings, as ex- 

 plained under Division, in Chapter II.; but true root cut- 



