APPENDIX VIII 



ROOTING LYCHEE CUTTINGS BY MEANS OF A HIGH TEMPERATURE 

 AND HIGH HUMIDITY PROCESS. 



By EDWARD GOUCHER 

 United States Department of Agriculture 



The vegetative propagation of certain woody plants, especi- 

 ally some of the tropical and subtropical fruits, including the 

 lychee, has always involved problems more or less difficult of solu- 

 tion. In the past, various methods to root both hard and soft 

 wood cuttings have been tried with varied success, but not any 

 have proved entirely satisfactory or reliable. 



In the case of the lychee there has been special need for 

 improved methods of propagation. Heretofore it has been neces- 

 sary to propagate the desired varieties either by the inarch method 

 or by grafting on seedling stocks. As these stocks must all be 

 grown from short-lived seeds, secured abroad, which are very 

 difficult to obtain in living condition, an attempt to establish in 

 the United States an industry in this valuable fruit has been 

 greatly retarded. 



With the object in view, therefore, of finding a solution of 

 the difficulties, several experiments with cuttings of lychee were 

 made as follows: 



(1) Cuttings were taken from the tips of young shoots. 

 These were made from four to six inches long and the foliage was 

 reduced about one-half. A ball of sphagnum moss was tied about 

 the base of each cutting and these were then placed in pans in a 

 warm propagating-case. 



(2) Another lot of cuttings was placed in a mixture of 

 Jersey muck and silver sand, in a case similar to the above. 



Not any of the cuttings in either of these two experiments 

 rooted, but their behavior was very valuable in later experiments. 

 In the hot, humid atmosphere of the propagating-case all of the 

 cuttings of lychee, placed in both the moss and soil, had their lower 

 ends decayed, while the tops remained in splendid condition. And 

 some cuttings formed a callus just above the surface soil, indicating 

 that they needed more aeration at their base. 



(3) The third trial was then made with cuttings set in 

 inverted pots, the stem ends shoved through the holes in the bot- 

 tom. A small quantity of sphagnum moss was packed about the 

 base so as to steady them, and the inverted pots were then placed 

 on a bed of moss in the propagating-case. About forty per cent of 



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