CHAPTER V 

 PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 



In a natural condition, plants are propagated either by 

 seeds, by bulbs and tubers, by runners, by suckers or by buds. 

 Man has, by his knowledge, increased the means of propaga- 

 tion by dividing the plants, by making cuttings of the stem 

 and roots and by employing the process known as layering. 

 There are, then, two principal means of propagation, namely, Two kinds of 

 natural and artificial. Both methods are made use of in ^^^^^^1'°^' 



cultivation. artificial. 



Propagation by Seeds.— In most instances plants re- 

 produce themselves by their seeds and many of the crops 

 growp by men are propagated in this manner. The produc- 

 tion of seeds is the aim, and often the end, of the life of the 

 plant. The seed falls to the ground and germinates, the 

 plant grows, it becomes mature, and then it flowers and 

 seeds — and often the seeding is the expiring effort of the 

 organism. This is the circle of plant life, and it has been 

 going on for countless ages in the same way as it goes 

 on now. It will be noticed that many plants of the same Variation 

 kind vary greatly in regard to their size, their vigour of ex^erna"^ '° 

 growth, their appearance of health, and the quality and conditions, 

 quantity of their seed or fruit. Whilst one plant, growing 

 in a good soil and under favourable conditions, will be 

 luxuriant in appearance and prolific in its return of fruit — 

 or seed or leaves or root as the case may be — another plant 



