CUT 



[274] 



CUT 



may be increased by cutting the flower- 

 tem into lengths, and placing the cut- 

 tings under ft hand-glass in a shady 

 border. 



In all hollow-stemmed plants the pre- 

 sence of a node, or joint, to cut through 

 at is essential. This is the reason A?hy 

 cutting through at a joint is also of im- 

 portance in other cases, and also the 

 reason why taking those little shrubby 

 eide-shoots as cuttings is often so suc- 

 cessful, what is technically termed the 

 heel the point of junction between the 

 elder branch and the young shoot being 

 well-supplied with incipient buds, which 

 readily produce roots. Whatevermay be 

 the mode and the time in which a cut- 

 ting is made, and whether it is necessary, 

 in the peculiar circumstances, to cut 

 clean through at a joint, it is of import- 

 ance that the cut be made with a clean, 

 sharp knife. 



Time when Cuttings should le taken. 

 When any particular period is mentioned 

 for this operation in this work, it is 

 'merely the period when, under general 

 circumstances, the practice would be 

 most suitable. Other things being equal, 

 spring and summer are the best times 

 for propagating greenhouse and stove 

 shrubs, as thus the plants are established 

 before winter. 



Leaves of a Cutting. Unless in par- 

 ticular circumstances, as many leaves 

 should be removed as would enable the 

 cutting to be firmly fixed in the cutting- 

 pot, and if the leaves be large, a portion 

 more may be removed, or lessened in 

 their dimensions, in order to reduce the 

 evaporating surface, success consisting 

 in keeping the cutting healthy, and yet 

 preventing it from parting with itsstored- 

 up juices ; and hence the reason why we 

 cover them with bell-glasses', and shade 

 them from bright sunshine. The more 

 leaves left, provided they can be kept 

 healthy and vigorous, the sooner will 

 roots be formed by the elaboration of 

 fresh material, and the more quickly and 

 without flagging will this elaboration 

 take place, the more light the leaves 

 receive. Shading, or diffused light, is 

 essential at first ; but the sooner it can 

 be dispensed -with the better. Continued 

 too long, the shading would make the 

 cuttings weak and spindly. 



Soil. Except for particular cases, 

 nothing is better than silver sand placed 

 over a layer of soil in which the plant 



delights, and beneath this the pot to be 

 filled with drainage. In general cases, 

 half an inch of sand, and three quarters 

 of an inch of sandy peat, or sandy loam 

 will be amply sufficient ; and the nearer 

 the cuttings are inserted to the side of 

 the pot, the sooner will they protrude 

 roots. When a bell-glass is used that 

 would come close to the side of the pot, 

 it is a good thing to put one pot inside a 

 larger one, fill up the space between them 

 to within a requisite distance of the top 

 with drainage, then with the soil and 

 sand, and place the cuttings firmly round 

 the outside of the inner pot. In this 

 case the inner pot may be empty, be sup- 

 plied with damp moss, or even, in some 

 peculiar cases, filled with water, though 

 the latter would be more generally appli- 

 cable to stove than greenhouse plants. 

 The turning of a smaller pot topsy-turv} 

 inside of a large one, so that the inner 

 forms a sort of chimney, and inserting the 

 cuttings round the sides of its inverted 

 bottom, now the top, is also a good plan, 

 especially when it is desirable to give 

 the plants the stimulus of a good bottom 

 heat, as, by stopping with potsherd tht 

 hole in the bottom, now uppermost, the 

 stimulus is applied to the base of the 

 cutting ; and thus roots are encouraged, 

 rather than lengthened upwards. 



Bottom-heat. Unless where fresh 

 growth is rapidly making, and the plant> 

 have received extra stimulus on purpose. 

 greenhouse plants should not have bottom- 

 heat, in general, until a callus is formed 

 at their base. When that is done, a 

 mild, moist bo! lorn-heat "a heat a me- 

 dium between the general temperature o! 

 a greenhouse and a stove may be given 

 with advantage. When, however, in many 

 hard-wooded plants, heat has been given 

 to cause the protrusion of short new 

 shoots from one to two inches in length 

 and these are taken off just as their bot- 

 toms are getting a little firm, then in 

 their case a mild, sweet hotbed at once 

 will just suit them, care being taken that 

 the atmosphere is not kept too hot, to 

 cause more elongation upwards. Stove 

 plants, on the other hand, as they require 

 more heat at all times than greenhouse 

 plants, so scarcely ever do their cuttings 

 suffer from bottom-heat, though pretty 

 strong ; and hence it often happens that 

 they are more readily propagated than 

 greenhouse shrubs. 



Cuttings of hardy Fruit-tret9. 



