PROPAGATION. 55 



distinction is not so great as at the first glance it appears. 

 Every plant of high organization possesses the power of 

 shooting out adventitious roots from its stem, under the 

 favoring influences of moisture ; and very frequently, even 

 plants that have been raised from seed, are forced to con- 

 tent themselves with such adventitious roots, since it is 

 the nature of many plants, for instance the grasses, never to 

 develop their proper root, although the radicle is actually 

 present. We are, it is true, accustomed to look upon the 

 matter as though the buds must always be developed into 

 twigs and branches, on and in connection with the plant 

 itself; and thus in common life, we regard them as parts 

 of a plant, and not as independent individuals, which they 

 are in fact, although they, like children who remain in 

 their paternal home, retain the closest connection with the 

 plant on which they were produced. That they are at 

 least capable of becoming independent plants, is shown 

 by an experiment frequently successful when the neces- 

 sary care is taken, namely the breaking off and sowing of 

 the buds of our forest trees. The well-known garden 

 operations of grafting and budding are also examples of 

 this, and layering only differs from the sowing of the 

 buds, in that the buds on the layers are allowed to acquire 

 a certain degree of maturity before they are separated from 

 the parent plant. All here depends upon the facility with 

 which these bud plants root as it is called, that is develop 

 adventitious roots, when they are brought in contact with 

 moist earth. * * * Nature herself very often makes 

 use of this method to multiply certain plants in incalculable 

 numbers. In a few cases, the process resembles the arti- 

 ficial sowing of buds, as when the plant spontaneously 



