400 SCIENCE OF GARDENING. PART II. 



2064. In respect to the choice of cuttings, those branches of trees and shrubs which are 

 thrown out nearest the ground, and especially such as recline, or nearly so, on the 

 earth's surface, have always the most tendency to produce roots. Even the branches of 

 resinous trees, which are extremely difficult to propagate by cuttings, when reclining 

 on the ground, if accidentally, or otherwise, covered with earth in any part, will there 

 often throw out roots, and the extremity of the lateral shoot will assume the character of a 

 main stem, as may be sometimes seen in the larch, spruce, and silver fir. Cuttings then 

 are to be chosen from the side shoots of plants, rather than from their summits or main 

 stems ; and the strength and health of side shoots being equal, those nearest the ground 

 should be preferred. The proper time for taking cuttings from the mother plant 

 is when the sap is in full motion, in order that, in returning by the bark, it may 

 form a callus or protruding ring of granular substance, between the bark and wood 

 whence the roots proceed. As this callus, or ring of spongy matter, is generally best 

 formed in ripened wood, the cutting, when taken from the mother plant, should contain 

 a part of the former year, or in plants which grow twice a year, of the wood of the 

 former growth ; or in the case of plants which are continually growing, as most ever- 

 green exotics, such wood as has begun to ripen, or assume a brownish color. This is 

 the true principle of the choice of cuttings as to time ; but there are many sorts of trees, 

 as willow, elder, &c. the cuttings of which will grow almost at any season, and even 

 if removed from the mother plant in winter, when the sap is comparatively at rest. In 

 these and Bother trees, the principle of life seems so strong, and so universally diffused 

 over the vegetable, that very little care is requisite for their propagation. Cuttings from 

 herbaceous plants are chiefly chosen from the low growths, which do not indicate a 

 tendency to blossom ; but they will also succeed in many cases, when taken from the 

 flower-stems, and some rare sorts of florists' and border flowers, as the dahlia, rocket, 

 cardinal-flower, scarlet lychnis, wallflower, &c. are so propagated. 



2065. The preparation of the cutting depends on, or is guided by this principle, that 

 the power of protruding buds or roots resides chiefly, and in most cases entirely, at what 

 are called joints, or at those parts where leaves or buds already exist. Hence it is that 

 cuttings ought always to be cut across, with the smoothest and soundest section possible, 

 at an eye or joint. And as buds are in a more advanced state in wood somewhat ripened 

 or fully formed, than in a state of formation, this section ought to be made in the wood 

 of the growth of the preceding season ; or as it were in the point between the two 

 growths. It is true, that there are many sorts of cuttings, which not only throw out 

 roots from the ring of granulated matter, but also from the sides of every part of the 

 stem inserted in the soil, whether old and large (c), or young and small (d, e\ as 

 willows, currants, vines, &c. ; but all plants which are difficult to root, as heaths (/), 

 camellias, orange-trees, &c. will be found in the first instance, and for several years after 

 propagation, to throw out roots only, from the ring of herbaceous matter above mentioned ; 

 and to facilitate the formation of this ring, by properly preparing the cuttings of even 

 willows and currants, must be an obvious advantage. It is a common practice to cut off 

 the whole or a part of the leaves of cuttings, which is always attended with bad effects 

 in evergreens, in which the leaves may be said to supply nourishment to the cutting till 

 it can sustain itself. This is very obvious in the case of striking from buds (g), 

 which, without a leaf attached, speedily rot and die. Leaves alone, as in bryophyllum 

 calycinum, will even strike root and form plants in some instances ; and the same, 

 as Professor Thouin observes, may be stated of certain flowers and fruits. 



2066. Cuttings which are difficult to strike may be rendered more tractable by previous 

 ringing ; if a ring be made on the shoot which is to furnish the cutting, a callus will 

 be created, which, if inserted in the ground after the cutting is taken off, will freely emit 

 roots. A ligature would perhaps operate in a similar manner, though not so efficiently ; 

 it should lightly encircle the shoot destined for a cutting, and the latter should be taken 

 off when an accumulation of sap has apparently been produced. The amputation in 

 the case of the ligature, as well as in that of the ring, must be made below the circles, 

 and the cutting must be so planted as to have the callus covered with earth. (Hort. 

 Trans, vol. iv. 558.) 



2067. The insertion of the cuttings may seem an easy matter, and none but a practical 

 cultivator would imagine that there could be any difference in the growth, between cut- 

 tings inserted in the middle of a pot, and those inserted at its sides. Yet such is actually 

 the case, and some sorts of trees, as the orange, ceratonia, &c. if inserted in a mere mass 

 of earth, will hardly, if at all, throw out roots, while, if they are inserted in sand, or in 

 earth at the sides of the pots, so as to touch the pot in their whole length, they seldom 

 fail of becoming rooted plants. Knight found the mulberry strike very well by cuttings, 

 when they were so inserted, and when their lower ends touched a stratum of gravel or 

 broken pots ; and Hawkins, (Hort. Trans, vol. ii. p. 12.) who had often tried to strike 

 orange-trees, without success, at last heard of a method (long known to nurserymen, 

 but which was re-discovered by Luscome), by which, at the first trial, eleven cuttings 



