68 CUTTINGS. 



however, that dampness, unaccompanied by- 

 warmth and light, will produce fungi and all 

 their injurious concomitants. 



Cuttings. 



When a separate portion of a plant is caused 

 to produce new roots and branches, and to in- 

 crease an individual, it is a cutting. 



Cuttings are of two sorts, — cuttings properly 

 so called, and eyes. 



A cutting consists of an internodium, (space 

 between bud and bud) or a part of one, whh its 

 nodus and leaf-bud. 



When the internodium is plunged in the 

 earth it attracts fluid from the soil, and nour- 

 ishes the bud until it can feed itself 



The bud, feeding at first upon the matter in 

 the internodium, gradually elongates upwards 

 into a branch, and sends organised matter 

 downwards, which becomes roots. 



As soon as it has established a communica- 

 tion with the soil, it becomes a new individual, 

 exactly like that from which it was taken. 



As it is the action of the leaf-buds that causes 

 growth in a cutting, it follows that no cutting 

 without a leaf-bud will grow ; 



