PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 147 



sents a similar but double standard, bolted together at top 

 and bottom, just wide enough apart to allow the handle of 

 the knife to work easily between. Figure 4 represents a 

 piece of 2X lo-inch plank, with a similar piece on the opposite 

 side, between which the double standard (2) is bolted. These 

 two sides meet closely beneath the knife blade, so as to fur- 

 nish a support for it when pressed through the bundle of cut- 

 tings, which are to be inserted at 9, in the curve. There is 

 an iron stop at 8, between the double standards, just low 

 enough to allow the blade to enter the crack at 9 about 

 In order to regulate the length of cuttings, a piece 



CUTTING MACHINE. 



of i x i4>plank one foot long must be nailed on edge against 

 and to the base along at 10 and opposite the knife, against 

 which the feeder pushes the ends of the cutting wood. 

 Eight inches is long enough for any cutting. Have the blade 

 made of good steel, thin and smooth, and keep it sharp. To 

 operate to the best advantage, four men are required, though 

 two can work it. But, with one man on a stool at the handle, 

 another to assort the wood, so as to have the buds all the 

 same way and ends together, a third to receive and feed, and 

 a fourth to hold the ends about to be cut, and when cut lay 

 carefully in flat baskets or boxes with hoop handles, this 

 machine will make more cuttings in a day than twenty men, 

 and of as good quality. Any slight bruising of the edges or 

 sides of the cuttings does no damage, as anyone can prove 

 by making a small lot with a sharp hatchet ; they will 



