CHAPTER SIX 



Making 

 a right 

 beginning 



Five 

 methods 

 of multiply- 

 ing plants 



The 



selection of 

 good 

 parent 

 stock 



Why seeds 

 need to be 

 tested 



THE PROPAGATION AND CARE OF PLANTS 



Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be sticking in a tree ; 

 it will be growing, Jock, when ye're sleeping. 



SIR WALTER SCOTT 



THE old saying, " Well begun is half done," is a good 

 motto for any one undertaking to plant a garden, a 

 lawn, an orchard, or a field. Mistakes made in the 

 beginning are hard to correct afterwards. Some com- 

 mon mistakes are failure to prepare the ground well 

 before planting, using seeds and plants of poor quality 

 or poor variety, and careless planting. 



The principal methods of propagating (starting) 

 plants are (i) planting seed, (2) planting cuttings (slips), 

 (3) layering, (4) grafting and budding, and (5) planting 

 bulbs. Whichever of these methods may be used, the 

 most important thing is to start with seed or other ma- 

 terial from the best possible parent plants. After that, 

 the most necessary matter is properly to care for the 

 plants while they are young. But no amount of care 

 will make possible the raising of good plants if one 

 starts with poor stock. 



Propagation by seeds. In Chapter One we noted 

 that each seed has a hard outer coat. Within this outer 

 coat is the young plant or embryo, together with a supply 

 of food on which the new plant lives until its roots and 

 leaves are well started. The process by which the seed 

 becomes a young plant that is, by which it sprouts 

 is called " germination." Some seed* will pot ger- 



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