Cuttings 



walking stick, or a wrist, or even thicker, and 

 from one to four yards long. The lower 

 branches are removed, the middle ones are 

 partly cut away and the upper ones are left 

 untouched. Lastly, the lower end is pointed 

 with the hatchet so that it may enter the 

 ground more easily. The cutting is now 

 complete and it is only necessary to plunge 

 the pointed end deeply in the ground and 

 then to leave it alone. Without further care, 

 if the ground is suitably moist, adventitious 

 roots will appear, and each of these roughly 

 cut posts will become a poplar or a willow. 



But other plants do not possess this 

 tendency to take root, which allows us to 

 obtain a tree from a post driven in by a club, 

 and delicate precautions are needed if their 

 cuttings are to succeed. For instance, there 

 is the vine, the cuttings of which are the new 

 branches of the year. These are made into a 

 sheaf and their lower extremities are soaked 

 in water for a week or more. Why this long 

 immersion of the part that is to be put under- 

 ground ? It is because the outer layer of the 

 bark is dry and tough, hardly to be pierced 

 by tender roots, especially if the ground is dry. 

 This layer is softened by a prolonged stay 

 under water, and when taken out of the bath 



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