146 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



NoveiTiber 



Propagation by Slips and Cuttings. 



In tlie transactions of the Iowa State Agricultural Society for 1869, we find a soine- 

 whiit elaborate essay on Horticulture and Floricultnre, by John Hague of Clinton. 



..^--la^.- !- Though the writer pre- 



sents nothing new to 

 professional horticul- 

 turists or florist.-^, the 

 novice and those of 

 limitL-d practice in 

 these arts will find 

 niore or less instruc- 

 tion in some portions of 

 A SLIP. Mr. H's article. For 



the be.iefit of such of our readers, we present the following synopsis of that portion of the 

 essay devoted to propagation by slips and cuttiugs. 



" The art of propagation from cuttings, &c., extends over a wide range of the plants in 

 cultivation, and where it con be done is the best way of raisingj plants. There are many 

 things that cannot well be raised from a cutting or slip, but nature has generally made 

 a provision that where a plant cannot be raied fromsecd, cuttings, or slips, it can be raised 

 from layers or ofl"-slioots. The strawberry is generally raised from the runner, but can als) be 

 raised from the seed. 



and it is from the 

 seed that new varie- 

 ties are producert,and 

 by a process that shall 

 be explained further 

 on. A cutting is one 

 thing and a slip an- 

 other. 



A cutting is made by taking a shoot of 

 either new wood or a twig that has recently 

 ripened, such as a gooseberry twig, a new 

 shoot of a currant th;it has been grown the 

 present season, but has got well ripened. 

 Take these and cut them just beneath a 

 joint, as shown in the figure of a cutting. 

 It is important to cut them just beneath a 

 joint, for they callous quicki-r at a joint, that 

 is, they form the wart-like incru.station 

 from which the roots come that are to 

 perfect the future plant. Some will put in 

 cuttings with half an inch or more stem 

 below the joint, but this is a poor way to 

 make cuttings, for I have raised some mil- 

 lions both ways, and the plants raised from 

 those cut near the joint always did the 

 best ; and it is natural they should do so, for 

 the roots in one case come out of the sides 

 of the stem, while in the other they come 

 out in the natural position at the bottom. 

 The slip is made by either cutting or draw- 

 ing off the young twigs just where they 

 join older wood. 



There are two kinds of cuttings or slips, 

 namely, hard, and soft wood cuttings. The 

 hard wood cutting is that of ripe wood, 

 such as hard wood of the grape vine in the 

 foil ; the other, the tender, soft cuttings or 

 shoots of dahlias, vcrb;'ans, geraniums, 

 begonias, tradessanties, and many sorts of 

 vegetables — such as the sweet potato, the 

 cucumber, the melon, and even the cabba.ge 

 can be propagated from a cutting ; also the 

 potato, which latter I have found the best way 

 to propigate new varieties, as cuttings made 

 of potato stems produce belter that cuttings 



A CUTTING. 



made of sets, as they are called. This of 

 course takes time, for potato plants rai.sed 

 this way have to be transplanted like 

 cabbage or other things. Soft cuttiugs are 

 mostly raised in what is culled saucer way, 

 that is, a dish is partly filled with sand and 

 then tilled up with water, into which the 

 cuttings can be put as thick as they will 

 stand. This way of striking requires pretty 

 strong lic-at and is seldom practiced by good 

 propagators save in the spring and summer 

 months, when there is plenty of sunshine ; 

 and anyone practicing this mode of propa- 

 gation must not allow the water in the 

 dishes to be all evaporated before they put 

 in fresh, as one hour's dryness will be 

 enough to ruin the cuttings. By the above 

 method I have raised in from four to ten 

 days, thousands of cucumber and sweet 

 potato plants when I have been short of 

 such things. Hard wood cuttings are 

 struck, that is, made to strike out roots at 

 varies times of the year ; that is, when they 

 are struck as gardeners use the term. 



The grape vine is best put into the ground 

 in spring, as soon as the frost has been out 

 of the ground, so that the soil has begun to 

 warm after its winter's rest; and the best 



kind of cuttings are those of last year's 

 growth, and the propagator must use his or 

 her own judgment upon the length of the 

 cutting put in. I have found that three 

 eyes to a cutting are plenty. To those who 

 don't understand the term eye or eyes, used 

 in gardening, I may explain that the buds 

 upon the sides of a twig or shoot are called 

 eyes, as seen in the wood cut. 



Gooseberries and currants are best raised 

 from cuttings in the fall of the year, say 

 about the middle of September, and those 

 wishing to have trees that will bear large 

 fruit should strip off the buds at the lower 

 end of the cutting, or that part which goes 

 into the ground, so that the sap can flow 

 through one stem and not produce a number 

 of stems perpetually from below the ground, 

 which not only rendtrs such things unsight- 

 ly but causes them to produce inferior fruit. 

 In the case of gooseberries, currants, and 

 many other things of a similar nature, five 

 or six ej'es or buds are enough to have 

 upon one cutting, and it is best not to put 

 them (that is the cuttings) too deep in the 

 ground, for if they are put too deep they 

 not only take a loug time to strike root, but 

 will root a long way from the bottom, that 

 is, near the surface of the soil. This not 

 only makes a bad plant, but is liable to pro- 

 duce decay in the plant even after it has 



struck root, 

 for it cannot 

 callous in a 

 p roper way 

 until the part 

 b ; lo w the 

 rjots is dc&iy- 

 e 1. It is better 

 t ) put cuttings 

 ia a sheltered 

 place than 

 where they will be blown about by wind, or 

 exposed to too strong sunshine. The best 

 exposure for out door cuttius is the east, 

 where the morning sun will warm the 

 ground, but the mid-day sun have its rays 

 broken or be off them. 



Greenhouse propagating of either slips or 

 layers, is another thing from out door rais- 

 ing, and requires in many plants nice man- 

 agement. The prii:cipal thing to aim at is 

 to have the top of the cutting at least ten 

 degrees of heat colder than the bottom, or 

 even more than that, for too 

 strong heat at the bottom is 

 fatal to good propagation. 

 A propagating bed run steadily 

 at seventy (70) degrees, with 

 the house heated up to fifty-tive 

 (55), is plentj' ; the object to 

 be gained is to make the cutting 

 or slip root before the top begins to grow, 

 and this can only be done by keeping the 

 top of the cutting cooler than the bottom. 

 Gardeners and nurserymen, prefer to 



