Tree Growing 91 



driest hill-top to a peat bog. As far as one might safely 

 go would be to say that a rather light, well-drained soil 

 suits the majority. 



Some trees can be more easily propagated from cuttings 

 than from seed. A cutting is a piece of young stem or 

 branch about ten inches long, and generally less than 

 three quarters of an inch in diameter. The wood should 

 be fully matured, but not more than one or two years old. 

 If the pieces are put into the ground and kept moist, they 

 will take root and send up shoots which will develop into 

 trees. They may be cut from the tree any time between 

 the fall of the leaves and their coming again. Generally, 

 for convenience, they are cut in the fall, tied in bundles 

 and buried, to be used the following spring. If they are 

 to be cut off trees convenient to the place of planting, they 

 may be cut in the spring and used immediately. Often 

 this gives the best results. 



In theory, any plant should be capable of being propa- 

 gated from cuttings. The stem can give off roots, branches 

 or new stems and leaves, and these are the really necessary 

 parts of a plant. All other parts are produced from these. 

 In practice, only plants of strong vitality are thus propa- 

 gated, as they are the only ones that will grow in that way 

 without special care. Under a bell-jar in the laboratory, 

 it is possible to root cuttings from many plants that could 

 not be propagated in that way in the open. The only 

 trees in our climate that have sufficient vitality to grow 

 readily from cuttings are the willows and any of the poplars 

 except the aspen. 



