PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 95 



exercised in planting". The rows in the nursery should be 

 about four feet apart and the cuttings about six inches apart 

 in the rows, though a much less distance may sometimes be 

 sufficient. In packing* the soil over the cutting's great pains 

 should be taken to get it very solid around the lower end, and 

 if the soil is very dry the firmest pressure of the full weight 

 of a man over the base of each cutting is not too great, in 

 fact when the soil is dry it cannot be made too firm over the 

 cutting. When the soil is moist, however, only enough pres- 

 sure should be used to bring the particles in close contact 

 and close up the air spaces. 



The Cultivation of Cuttings should commence shortly after 

 they are planted and the top soil should be kept loosened to 

 the depth of about three inches, which while not disturbing 

 the solid soil around the base of the cuttings prevents 

 evaporation from the soil. 



Time of Planting Cuttings. Spring cuttings may be planted 

 at once where they are to grow. Autumn cuttings may be 

 planted out at once, provided the land is not wet. but when 

 planted at this season they should be covered with soil-turned 

 toward them with a plow. In the spring this covering should 

 be raked off before the buds swell. The ground being warm 

 in autumn often causes autumn-planted cuttings of some 

 kinds to root before cold weather sets in, and if made up 

 before the first of October they may thus score quite a gain 

 over spring-planted cuttings. If not desira-ble to plant in the 

 autumn the bundles of cuttings may be kept over winter buried 

 in moist soil, preferably that which is somewhat sandy, 

 where there is no standing water, but much care should be 

 taken to keep them from drying out. To this end the bundles 

 should be buried so as not to touch each other and have two 

 or three inches of soil packed in between them. If they are 

 kept in a cellar, moist sawdust will be found to be good 

 material to keep them in. 



The amount of growth made by cuttings varies much 

 according to the kind of plant, size of cuttings, soil, etc. The 

 most of our willows will make a growth of three or four feet on 

 good soil in one season from ordinary cuttings. 



The Solar Pit. There are many trees that will not grow 

 from cuttings unless they have their roots started a little 



