44 Transplanting : Propagation from Cuttings, etc. 



layer of broken stone, and are covered with as rich a soil as possi- 

 ble and watered. This arrangement secures free access by the air, 

 and the plants send out an abundance of laterals, which extend up 

 into the soil above them, and to but a limited extent downward. 

 By covering a very hard stony surface with a very rich soil, nearly 

 the same result is obtained. 1 



Spring or Fall Transplanting. 



168. As to the time of transplanting no general rule may be given. 

 In some countries, as in France, fall planting after the September 

 rains, does best for the deciduous kinds, and spring, at the time 

 when vegetation is just beginning to start, for the conifers, or resin- 

 ous kinds. 



169. When young plants are taken up in the dormant season of 

 vegetation, their roots suffer less from exposure to the air than when 

 the season of active growth is just beginning, and they will then 

 doubtless bear transportation better. There are, in short, both ad- 

 vantages and disadvantages attending both fall and spring planting, 

 and a safe rule would be to experiment upon both in new localities, 

 before definitely adopting either to the exclusion of the other season. 

 It would be unsafe to accept these results as final, until they had 

 been tested for a series of years, because one winter might be un- 

 usually open, or a spring or summer exceptionally dry; or some 

 other cause not of ordinary occurrence, may affect a result that 

 would not occur again for many years. 



3. Propagation from Cuttings, Layers, and other Methods. 



Cuttings. 



170. If we take healthy and vigorous shoots from the last year's 

 growth, of many deciduous trees, and notably the cottonwood pop- 

 lars and willows, and thrust them into the ground, they will under 

 favorable conditions put forth roots from the lower end and the buds 



pulse of growth is thrown with greater force into the root. He proposes to 

 shade the seed-beds with thin cloth, which admit sufficient light, and all the 

 rain, and prevent damages from frost. Upon the stone seed beds he would 

 place acorns at the rate of 1,000 to the square meter, or about 810 to a square 

 yard. 



1 See preceding note. 



