CUTTINGS IN OPEN AIR. 



51 



trench, unless they are more than six inches long if so, 

 incline them placing them about three or four inches 

 apart, and so deep that the upper bud will be one inch 

 below the surface of the soil. Fig. 15 shows the posi- 

 tion of cuttings in the trench before being filled. When 

 the row is filled with cuttings, put in about two inches 

 of soil, and press it down firmly around the base of the 

 cutting; then fill up the trench evenly, just covering 

 the upper bud, but do not bury it too deeply. This will 

 leave a shallow basin of an inch in depth the whole 



FIG. 15. 



length of the row the dotted lines in Fig. 14, above the 

 upper bud, show the form in which this basin should be 

 left. The rows of cuttings should be about two feet 

 apart ; the soil between the rows will be about two inches 

 higher in the middle than at the rows. The time re- 

 quired for the cuttings to strike root and push into 

 growth will vary considerably. If there is much rain 

 and the weather is warm, then they will start quite 

 early ; but if the weather is cool they will often remain 

 comparatively dormant until June, and even later than 

 this, and then start and make a good growth by fall. 

 The upper buds should be carefully preserved from 

 injury, because it is from these that the shoots are usu- 

 ally produced. When the cuttings have made a growth 

 of four or five inches, the ground should be leveled so 

 that the upper buds on the cuttings will be covered an 



