420 



broad 



CUT - FLOWERS 



hboiis. 



irried in the hand or over the 

 tly used are roses and lilies-of- 

 1 ^ nii.r hut little in the various cities, 

 ! Ill all the flrst-class work. There 

 ul, . ii-irni or western flower. With the 

 ptn'ii lit* some varieties of carnations, the 

 flowers will be found the same the country 

 over. In the census of 1890 Cut-flowers were estimated 

 to make more than one-half of the florist's business. 

 One good book especially devoted to the business has 

 been produced, — the late AI. A. Hunt's "How to Grow 

 Cut-flowers.' Robert Kift. 



possible 



CUTICLE. The 



plants. It consist 

 cells. These wall 

 Minute waxy nni 

 many fruits, such 



of herbaceous parts of 

 walls of the epidermal 



liikened and cutinized. 



aticularized surface of 

 lid plum, give to them 



their peculiar bloom. The Cuticle is nearly impervious 

 to water. The preservation of fruits depends in large 

 measure upon the retention of moisture by the Cuticle. 

 Cacti and other desert plants have their epidermis re- 

 markably cuticularized. y^_ -W. RowLEE. 



COTTAGE. The operation and practice of growing 

 plants from severed parts. A cutting is the gardener's 

 name for a piece of the stem, root, rootstock or leaf, 

 which, if cut off and planted under suitable conditions, 

 will form new roots and buds, reproducing the parent 

 plant. This term is usually given to parts of the 

 stem; a part or the whole of the leaf, when so used, is 

 called a leaf -cutting ; a piece of root or rootstock is called 

 a root-cutting. The scales of some bulbous plants, e. g., 

 the lily, can also be used as cuttings. A cion used in 

 grafting might be called a cutting whic-li unites and 

 grows on the roots of another |il:iiii. >> - i,,<iittige. 

 Plants obtained by division or 1:. i _ .:. i i Aided 

 with roots before they are detail' I ; . ' parL-nt 

 plants, and, therefore, are notpru|M ri, . iii;iii_'~. 



Multiplication by cuttings is a f'onn ..t l»u.l-pio|.at;ation 

 in contradistinction to sexual reproduction, i. e., propa- 

 gation by seeds. It is a cheap and convenient way to obtain 

 plants. All plants cannot be profitably increased bv these 

 means. Why they diiTer we do not know; the gardener 

 learns by experiiiin- what s|. cries \ icM a good per- 

 centage of healtli\- jilaiii^. aii'i act- : niingly. 



The foUowiuf; taMc ^v,il .1„,« the .liilVrcut ways in 

 which cuttings an- iiiaih: 



I Soft 

 e.g.. Verbena 

 Hardened 

 e. g., Tea. roses 



[ Long, in open air 



. g.. Eclieveria 



. g.. Begonia Rex 



(1) Cuttings of Growing Wood. — Fig. 018. These are 

 made either of the soft growing tips, as in coleus, salvia, 

 verbena, etc., or, of the same wood in more mature con- 

 dition, but by no means ripe, as in tender roses. Azalea 

 Indica, etc. The cuttings of plants like Ilnphorbia 

 pulcherrima, erica, cpacris, etc., are used in the soft 

 growing state, if a well built propagating house is obtain- 

 able; but in an ordinary house, a part of which is used 

 for other purposes, the older and better ripened wood 

 will be more successful. It is generally .true that cut- 

 tings of hardened wood will always root, although they 

 require more time and may not make the best plants. 



CUTTAGE 



but it is not true that cuttings o 

 always root. Inmany cases, as in tt 

 before they callus, much less produce roots. " In plants 

 of rapid growth and good vitality, the proper condition 

 of the soft growing wood for cuttings can be determined 

 by its readiness to snap^not bend, 

 when bent back: the hardened wood 

 is in the right state as long as it con- 



The treatment of cuttings in both 

 •f '' ■ classes is practically the same. 

 1 ~ They should be planted in sand un- 



^ . '. der glass. Large establishments 



■ have one or more houses set apart 



',, for this and similar purposes. In 



smaller places a propagating bed or 

 bench can be made at the warmest 

 61S. I ,t I ; : ^ :t end of the warmest house. It 

 growine wood, should be placed over the pipes 

 (Coleus.) where they leave the boiler, and, in 



order to secure bottom heat when 

 needed, the space between the bench and the floor 

 should be boarded up, having a trap door to open on 

 cold nights (Pig. 619). Cutting-frames inside a green- 

 house are also shown in Fig. 620. Side partitions 

 should also be provided to box in all the heat from the 

 pipes under that part of the bench. Good dimen- 

 sions for such a bed are, width 3 feet, length 6 feet or 

 any multiple of 6, thus making it simple to use a hotbed 

 sash when confined air is wanted. The depth of the 

 frame should be from 6 to 10 inches in front and from 12 

 to 15 inches behind. The bottom of the bed may be 

 either wood, slate or metal and should be well drained: 

 place a layer of potsherds first, then moss, and from 2 to 

 3 inches of sand on top. The sand should be clean, 

 sharp and well compac»,,l ■ lM.fM,-e jilanting it should be 

 watered if at all ilr !■ - - ■ .,.fi,„es advisable to 

 have the bed filled " i i - i:i;_'num), into which 



pots or boxes coni.i! _■ are plunged: the 



moss should be nici-i, m nli, r le,, uct nor dry, and well 

 packed. 



In many cases, when large quantities of one sort of 

 cuttings are to be planted, the ordinary greenhouse 



619. Section of propagating bed. 

 Shows four pipes beneath, the door on the 

 the frame cover. 



