GA RDENING BY M YSELF. 1 3 j 



nas, the shoot should be so tender that it 

 will break. Where it bends under your fin- 

 gers, the wood is already too hard to fur- 

 nish the best cuttings. They might grow, 

 but neither so soon nor so vigorously. In 

 roses and other plants called hard-wooded, 

 the shoot may be somewhat riper. It is 

 difficult to give an exact rule — try, and learn. 



Then make your cuttings short. From 

 two to four inches is quite long enough, and 

 even a single inch is worth much, even in 

 non-professional hands. Professional ones 

 will almost strike cuttings from the shadow 

 of one plant and the smell of another. But 

 you will need to practise a good deal before 

 you can divide a leaf and get a plant from 

 each end. 



Make a smooth, clean cut across your 

 shoot, just below a joint, say the old gar- 

 dening rules ; but it seems now that this is 

 not needful with most plants. "■ Blind 

 shoots" — i.e.^ shoots with no flower-bud at 

 the end — are the best in roses, and perhaps 

 in other plants. Clip off a few lower leaves, 



