208 Principles of Plant Culture. 



bends without breaking it has become too hard. Cutting 

 below a node (116) is not essential to the formation of 

 roots in herbaceous plants.* 



While the propagating house or hotbed is necessary to 

 the extensive multiplication of herbaceous plants by 

 green cuttings, the amateur may readily propagate a 

 limited number of plants by the so-called " saucer sys- 

 tem." The cuttings may be placed in glazed saucers 

 containing sand that should be kept saturated with water. 

 The saucers may be set in any warm, well-lighted place, 

 as the window of a living room. The stems being in 

 this case in contact with the water in the bottom of the 

 saucer, the cuttings require less shading than those in the 

 propagating bed. 



381. How to Make Green Cuttings of Woody Plants. Cut 

 tings of woody plants are preferably made of harder 

 growths than those best suited to herbaceous plants. 

 They should be selected from young shoots of medium 

 size and from half-mature wood, and should generally 

 contain from two to three nodes, though where the ma- 

 terial for cuttings is scarce, single buds may be used in 

 many plants. The base of the cutting is preferably cut 

 shortly below a node, but this is not essential in all plants. 



In this kind of propagation a mild bottom heat is 

 helpful, though it is sometimes carried on during the 

 summer months without artificial heat. 



382. Propagation by Leaf Cuttings. A considerable 

 number of plants, including the bryophylluni, begonia, 

 gesnera and others, readily develop growing points of 



* In a few plants, as the dahlia, the presence of a dormant bud at the 

 crown is essential to the development of the stem the succeeding year. 

 Cuttings of such plants should therefore be made below a node, if the 

 roots are desired for future use. 



