Gardening for Amateurs 



693 



How Plants are Increased 



A PPLES are grafted or budded on (1) 

 A% the Crab stock, which encourages 

 * -^-good strong growth ;. (2) on the 

 Paradise stock, to secure a dwarfing effect 

 and early maturity of fruits ; (3) on culti- 

 vated seedlings, which induce moderate 

 growth and free formation of fruits ; (4) 

 on the Doucin stock, which materially 

 benefits the fruiting qualities. 



Pears are budded or grafted on (a) the free 

 or seedling Pear stock, (6) the Quince, (c) 

 the Hawthorn : (6) and (c) exert a dwarfing 

 influence on the varieties and encourage 

 plenty of fruit. 



The Cherry is budded on the Mahaleb 

 Plum for dwarfs and on the seedling Cherry 

 when standard trees are desired. 



The Plum is budded or grafted on (a) the 

 St. Julien stock, (b) the Myrobalan Plum, 

 (c) the Damson. 



The Peach, Almond, Nectarine and Apricot 

 are budded on the seedling Plum, seedling 

 Peach, or seedling Almond. 



Quinces are propagated by cuttings. 



Medlars are generally grafted on the Haw- 

 thorn, the Quince, or on seedling Medlars. 



Figs are increased from cuttings. 



The Vine is propagated by inarching 

 on the common varieties or raised from 

 eyes, layers, or cuttings. 



Bush fruits (Currant, Gooseberry, etc.) 

 are raised from cuttings of last year's wood ; 

 the cuttings are generally 15 inches long 

 severed at a bud at both ends and having 

 all the buds but four removed. Black Cur- 

 rants do not have the lower buds removed. 



Raspberries are raised from suckers, and 



Strawberries by means of runners. 



Loganberries and Blackberries are generally 

 layered or raised from cuttings. 



Flowering plants like the Chrysanthemum, 

 Pentstemon, Antirrhinum, etc., can be raised 

 from cuttings or often from seeds. 



Perennials are increased by root division, 

 offsets, cuttings, and from seed, and Roses 

 from cuttings, seeds, or layers, or by budding 

 and grafting. 



Division and Offsets. Plants may be 

 propagated by division or by offsets, which 



are really tiny replicas of the parent that 

 have developed close to it. The method of 

 division is practised largely among flowering 

 plants and it simply means that the plant or 

 its roots are divided up into so many parts 

 each of which is capable of growing on and 

 developing since it is furnished with roots. 

 A very crude way of doing the work is 

 simply to take the spade or some other 

 instrument and slice the plant or clump of 

 plants into any desired number of parts. 

 This, however, is both wasteful and harmful ; 

 the best plan is to lift the plant, then by exert- 

 ing more or less force to tear the parts away 

 from each other without doing more injury 

 than can be helped. When propagating in 

 this way it is wise to remember that the 

 central portion of the plant is weakest and 

 that it may be discarded while fresh pieces 

 from the outside will furnish plenty of new 

 and healthy plants. Greenhouse and window 

 plants are often increased by division ; 

 some shrubs are also amenable to the practice, 

 but as a general rule the flower border is 

 the place for this method of propagation. 

 Division is best carried out in autumn or in 

 spring. 



Innumerable plants in the garden and 

 greenhouse produce offsets or shoots which 

 have become rooted and are really baby 

 plants. Notable in the list are Strawberry, 

 Viola, Violet, Houseleek, many Saxifrages, 

 Echeveria, some ferns, and the like. These 

 offsets may be removed from the parent 

 and transplanted into different positions 

 where they will grow up and mature. In 

 some cases it is possible to accelerate the 

 formation of these offsets by pegging down 

 parts of the plant on the surface of the soil 

 by a system of layering, as it were. The 

 fern Asplenium bulberiferum is a case in 

 point ; if a frond be laid on the soil it will 

 soon develop a number of tiny plants which 

 can be removed and grown on to increase 

 stock. The Strawberry and the Violet are 

 said to produce runners, i.e. long stems 

 which " run " along the surface and root at 

 intervals. The common house plant Saxi- 

 fraga sarmentosa or Mother of Thousands is 



