PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 



107 



pected to grow ; hence, in making cuttings, the shoot is 

 divided just below a joint, and it is considered best to 

 choose a joint between the young wood and that of the 

 previous season. The cut should be quite smooth, for if 

 the shoot be bruised, the returning sap will not be able to 

 reach the wound in sufficient quantity to make it heal over 

 and form the callus quickly, and the cutting will be likely 

 to fail. When the callus is properly formed, there is lit- 

 tle difficulty in striking cuttings. To form the callus, they 

 may be mixed with damp sphagnum moss, or old tan, and 



kept in a dark cellar until 

 about to push roots. Cuttings 

 may be placed loosely in a 

 common preserving bottle, 

 with a wet sponge, the water 

 drained out, and the bottle 

 stopped with a cork, which has 

 a half-inch hole in the top to 

 admit air. This may be kept 

 where the atmosphere ranges 

 from temperate to summer 

 heat, and the callus will form 

 very quickly. 



Preparation. The way to 

 prepare cuttings for planting 

 is best shown by an illustration. Figure 42, A, shows a 

 cutting formed from a lateral shoot, and has been cut off 

 from the main branch with a heel attached. Such cuttings 

 are sometimes torn out and the bottom smoothed with a 

 sharp knife, and present a larger surface for the absorp- 

 tion of moisture. At B is a deciduous, woody cutting, 

 as commonly prepared. At C -is shown a mode in 

 which grape cuttings are sometimes prepared ; the two 

 extremities of the fragment of branch at the base are 

 furnished with buds. This is a mode which greatly 

 favors the emission of roots. Figure 43 is a cutting 



Fig. 42. DIFFERENT FORMS OF 

 CUTTINGS. 



