4 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 435 



1945 inclusive, are the dates on which cuttings were taken and, within that range, 

 there were no consistent differences in rooting which could be attributed to the 

 time of taking the cuttings. 



Cuttings of Mugho pine {P. Miigo Turra var. Miighus (Scop.) Zenari, var.) 

 also rooted well after treatment if taken in February (28). 



Spring and early summer seems to be a poor season. Cuttings of white pine 

 taken here in April, May, June, and early July all died unrooted. But cuttings 

 of white pine have been taken successfully in early August and rooted in an 

 outdoor glass-covered propagating bed (22). Also, cuttings taken in late or 

 mid-August from trees ten to fifteen years old rooted 50 to 60 percent in outdoor 

 propagating beds shaded with lath or cloth (7). 



Cuttings taken in winter usually root in three to five months (3, 4, 6) although, 

 rooting unevenly as they often do, some require longer. Treated cuttings which 

 were taken here on March 6, for example, began to root in sixteen weeks, most of 

 the living rooted in twenty-five weeks, but the last few to root required thirty 

 weeks. The problem meanwhile is to keep them alive for that length of time 

 and that is further considered below. 



Cuttings taken in summer require even longer to root (4). Summer cuttings 

 planted outdoors and mulched with hay in the winter rooted fairly well by 

 October of the second year, more than twelve months after they were taken (22). 

 That is an objection to the taking of cuttings of white pines in summer, but of 

 course the method requires no greenhouse. 



Taking and Making the Cuttings 



The branches from which cuttings were made were usually collected^ in the 

 morning and m.ade up into cuttings the same day. 



Cuttings used by the writer were made from the lower or lowest branches for 

 it has been found (6, 22) that cuttings of white pine root less well if taken from 

 the upper branches. This is perhaps partly an effect of light, for cuttings of 

 Swiss stone pine {P. Cenibra L.) rooted better if taken from branches which grew 

 in the shade rather than from those which grew in the sun (4). 



The rooting of cuttings taken from the north and south sides of three trees on 

 March 22 was compared and the results are presented in Table 1.' Cuttings 

 from the first tree rooted in slightly larger percentages if obtained from the north 

 side. Cuttings from the other trees rooted less well than did cuttings from the 

 first tree and only in the case of those from the second tree treated with Fermate- 

 Hormodin No. 3 (equal parts by volume) did cuttings from the north side root 

 much better than those from the south. On the whole, the superiority of cuttings 

 from the north side of the trees was not proven although such small differences 

 as did exist were more often in favor of that side. 



Cuttings were made from small or medium-sized twigs which grew on lateral 

 branches, for cuttings of this type have been found to root better than do those 

 made from terminal shoots (3). Leaves, needles, were neither removed nor 

 shortened, it having been found that such cuttings live longer than do those the 

 needles of which have been cut back or removed completely (3, 22, 24). 



Brachyblasts, the very short shoots or undeveloped branchlets, each of which 

 in the case of white pine is the bearer of a cluster of five needles, have also been 



^Branches were collected and brought into the laboratory by Mr. Daniel W. McCleary, Forest 

 Supervisor at the College Forest on Mt. Toby. 



^In this and the following tables, IB and NA are abbreviations for indolebutyric acid and a- 

 naphthaleneacetic acid respectively. "IB 200 mg./l., 5 hr." indicates an immersion treatment 

 with the bases of cuttings in a' solution of 200 milligrams of indolebutyric acid in one liter of water 

 for five hours. "IB 8 mg./gm." indicates a power-dip treatment using 8 milligrams of indole- 

 butyric acid in one gram of talc or other dry carrier. 



