80 ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 



CUTTINGS. 



Cuttings are pieces of the branches or roots which have the 

 power of growing and forming new plants when placed in moist 

 sand, soil or other material. For example, the pieces of the 

 twigs on branches of many kinds of willows and poplars, when 

 taken while the tree is dormant, will root when placed in moist 

 soil, but there are few other trees that grow as readily from cut- 

 tings as these. Cuttings of the roots of many kinds of trees, 

 as the White Poplar, Wild Plum, Yellow Locust, and many 

 others that sprout from the roots, will grow if treated about the 

 same way as branch cuttings. 



In growing trees from cuttings the source of the cuttings is 

 not of so great importance as the source of the seed from which 

 the stock trees were grown, for the qualities of individual trees 

 are probably not permanently or greatly changed by climate. 

 For instance, trees grown from the cuttings of Russian Poplars 

 would be as "hardy in Minnesota if the cuttings came from St. 

 Louis, where they had been growing for years, as they would be 

 if imported direct from Siberia. However, owing to a longer 

 growing season at St. Louis, the wood might be. of a more open 

 texture, and perhaps might not resist cold as well as Minnesota- 

 grown wood; but after one season's growth in Minnesota it 

 would probably be as hardy. The same would hold true of 

 plants propagated by any method of division. With the excep- 

 tion of Willows and Poplars, very few of our ornamental trees 

 grow readily from cuttings. The best time to make cuttings is 

 in the fall, as soon as the leaves will strip easily from the twigs. 

 Most -of the willows and poplars will grow readily from cuttings 

 made in the spring, and even those made in summer will gener- 

 ally grow if planted in moist soil. For this purpose the smaller 

 branches with the leaves removed should be used. They may 

 also be rooted from growing twigs with the leaves left on, pro- 

 vided the cut surfaces are placed in water, as they would be if 

 stuck in the soil of a swamp or treated the same as cuttings of 

 geraniums. These latter ways, however, are not to be depended 

 upon for general propagation purposes. 



The Form and Sifce of Cuttings is a matter upon which 

 there is great difference of opinion. Cuttings of the Willow 

 from one bud each and only an inch or two long up to those a 



