PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 69 



given off by the leaves is greater than that taken up from the 

 soil, the plant must dry up and die. 



The pruning of the off-shoot before detaching it from the 

 parent tree both facilitates the detaching operations and decreases 

 the weight of the off-shoot for transport. Off-shoots are usually 

 severed from the tree by means of an ordinary axe or large chisel, 

 the cutting being done in a plane parallel to the stem of the 

 parent tree. The cut should be made as near to the parent tree 

 as is possible without unduly harming it. The detaching imple- 

 ment should be sharp and the blows light. Every care should 

 be taken not to shatter the off-shoot in removing it from the 

 mother. The wound on the mother should be earthed up at once, 

 and it is strongly advisable to first coat the wound with coal tar or 

 other material generally used to cover plant wounds (see para. 93, 

 page 126). 



32. After the adult leaves have been trimmed back, 



the off-shoot should not weigh less than six 

 Si Spian U t C ed! rSt pounds. Off-shoots less than this usually die 



when transplanted, because if- by any chance 

 the amount of moisture in the soil around the off-shoots becomes 

 less than what is required, the plant has not a sufficient store 

 of food and vitality in it to replace those rootlets that may 

 have been dried up. From the weighment of a large number 

 of plants I find that the average weight of an off-shoot when 

 trimmed and ready for planting is 12 to 15 Ibs. Off-shoots may be 

 fit for transplanting when they are 3 to 4 years old, but the larger 

 the shoot is the better, as there will be less danger in shattering 

 it when removing it from the parent tree, more strength in its 

 substance, and more chance of it doing well when transplanted. 



33. Six months to a year before the off-shoots are removed, 



earth is sometimes piled up round the bases 



To induce off- r . 



shoots to form of the mother trees and kept moist. This 

 induces the off-shoots to send out rootlets and 

 increases their chances of taking root when planted out (see also 

 page 10, para, 5). 



