126 PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS 



woolly aphis. Often varieties of fruit are better adapted 

 to local conditions, such as extremes of humidity, low tem- 

 peratures of the north or the prairies of the northwest when 

 grown from their own rooted cuttings. In most of these 

 cases, the nurse root is the best method where the varieties 

 do not root readily from their own cuttings. 



Tip Cuttings. This is a method where semi-dormant 

 wood is used and is adapted to such fruits as the olive, 

 loquat and ornamentals like the oleander which are ever- 

 green and have a more or less heavy foliage. The olive 

 in particular is propagated in this manner in a number of 

 nurseries in California. Mr. W. T. Kirkman, of Fresno, 

 describes the process as follows: " The cuttings are made 

 about three inches long from the tip wood, or small wood 

 near the tips of the branches. Two leaves are left 

 on each piece near the top of the cutting, the bottom 

 end is cut close to the bud in fact, right against the bud. 

 These small cuttings are best made in October and should be 

 immediately placed into a sand bed, where they are rooted. 

 It is usually necessary to supply a medium bottom heat 

 during the winter. " These rooted cuttings are placed in 

 the nursery row in the spring where from one to two 

 years is required to produce a nursery tree measuring 

 from three to five feet in height. (See c, Fig. 55.) 



Truncheons. Some few fruits and a number of kinds 

 of trees may be grown from pieces of wood ranging much 

 larger in size than used in an ordinary cutting. Such 

 pieces used in propagation are known as truncheons. The 

 method is slow and not altogether satisfactory, but never- 

 theless is used in Europe to some extent in propagating 



