132 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



but as far as I know will use words of common sense which everyone 

 will comprehend. When we call a graft a graft instead of graftage, 

 a cutting a cutting instead of cuttage, and the same with the word 

 seedage for the sowing of seeds, I do not say that these words are 

 not correct, but I do think that the old terms of experience will be 

 best appreciated by the majority of people. 



The different methods of propagation are 

 by seed, — the first and original method of production Seedage 

 by cuttings, — both hard and soft wood Cuttage 



by leaf cuttings, — 



by layering, — Layerage 



by stolons, — 

 by root cuttings, — 

 by budding and grafting, — Graftage 



The most natural of these methods is propagation from seed. 

 Plants as a rule grow strong from seed and live longer than those 

 which are grafted; thus, where it is practical to do so, to grow the 

 plants from seed is the best method ; but there are exceptions to all 

 rules and many trees, such as willows and poplars, grow as readily 

 from cuttings and produce equally as good plants as those from seed. 

 Species as a rule come true from seed, or nearly so, but there are 

 many variations which we wish to perpetuate and these must be 

 increased by other methods, such as grafting, cuttings, layers, or 

 inarching. In growing plants from seed it is important that the 

 seed should be selected from good healthy plants, and if grown in a 

 cooler climate than that in which you intend to grow them they are 

 apt to be more hardy than seeds taken from a warmer climate to a 

 colder one. If possible this should be the reverse. We know for a 

 fact that many evergreens from California and Oregon are not hardy 

 here, while the same species from Colorado or other high altitudes 

 are perfectly hardy here. 



In the case of Picea Engehnanni, Abies concolor, Picea 'pimgens, 

 and the Douglas fir {Pseudotsuga taxifolia, or mucronaia, as it is now 

 called), plants were imported from England which had been grown 

 from seed collected in California and Oregon. These plants which 

 thrived perfectly well in the moist climate of England could not 

 stand our climate at all, and it was not until Doctor Parry sent seeds 

 from Color;;do that we had hardv forms of these trees in New 



