1 76 DISEASES AND INSECT ENEMIES. 



appear to be free from organisms of all kinds, 

 and the stems and leaves are also free, except in 

 some cases, where red spider may be present, 

 but not in sufficient quantity to account for the 

 dwarfed growth of the plants. 



This dwarfing or stunting may be brought 

 about by a number of causes. Anything in fact 

 which has a tendency to check growth may result 

 in permanent dwarfing, but it is particularly at 

 the time when the plant is young that injury is 

 likely to occur. It sometimes happens that the 

 cuttings when taken from the parent plant are not 

 fully mature, and if rooted in sand or soil at this 

 time they will never make as strong or vigorous 

 plants as those made from fully ripened wood. 

 Again, the wood may become so hard that its 

 growth is to a certain extent fixed. Such a cut- 

 ting would also be apt to produce a dwarfed plant, 

 for the reason that the check which it has received 

 can never be entirely overcome. On the other 

 hand, the wood may be of the proper nature and 

 the cutting in all other respects good, and yet 

 in handling after it is separated from the parent 

 plant, certain checks may be brought about which 

 will result in permanent injury and a dwarfed or 

 stunted plant. Too much or too little water in 

 the propagating bed may bring about these re- 

 sults. Lack of water is often a fruitful source of 

 injury in this connection. The plants do not nec- 

 essarily have to be dried out to such an extent 



