PROPAGATION BY MEANS OF CUTTINGS 



109 



FIG. us. 

 form of 



T%/T chrysanthe- 



Many mum cutting 



cuttings are commonly cut below a bud or to a 

 heel, but this is unnecessary in easily rooted 

 j plants like gera- 



nium, coleus, helio- 

 trope. Fig. 116 

 shows an oleander 

 cutting at a, a 

 carnation at b, and 

 a geranium at c. 

 A coleus cutting 

 is illustrated in 



TT ,^~ 



Pig. 117. 



growers prefer to ( x *) 

 make a larger cutting of cer- 

 tain firm-wooded plants, like 

 chrysanthemums, as 



shown in Fig. 118. A bed of dracenas is shown in 

 Fig. 92, and one of the cuttings is drawn in Fig. 119. 

 Sometimes the growth is so 

 short or the stock so scarce 

 that the cutting cannot be made 

 long enough to hold itself in 

 the soil. In such case a tooth- 

 pick or splinter is tied to the 

 cutting to hold it erect, as in 

 the cactus cutting, Fig. 120, or 

 the geranium cutting, Fig. 121. 

 In the window-garden, soft cut- 

 tings may be started in a deep 

 plate half or two- thirds full of 

 sand and then filled to the brim 

 with water, and not shaded ; 

 , this method, practiced on a larger scale, 



FIG. 121. Cutting held . . , . . . , 



by toothpick (x j). is sometimes useful m the hot summer 



FIG. 120. 

 Cactus cut- 

 ting held 

 by splinter 

 (x i). 



