210 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



To recapitulate: The principal points to be attended to 

 in making cuttings are — to cut off the .shoot at a joint, 

 without harming the stem; to select shoots with well 

 matured buds; to fix the eud which is to seud out roots 

 firmly iu the soil; to keep up an equable degree of heat 

 and moisture; to cut off part of the leaves and shade the 

 whole, to prevent evaporation, without too much exclud- 

 ing light, of which a portion is needed to stimulate the 

 cutting into growth; to keep the soil moist but not too 

 damp. It is well to transplant them into small pots, sup- 

 plied with water regularly and moderately as soon as they 

 begin to grow. Cuttings of slow-growing plants are those 

 most liable to fail. An excess of heat, cold air, water, and 

 light are all injurious to tender cuttings. 



Pipings. — Cuttings of plants with tubular stems, like 

 the pink, are called pipings. The upper part of a shoot, 

 when nearly done growing, is pulled out of the socket 

 close above a joint, leaving the part pulled out with a 

 pipelike termination. These pipings usually have their 

 leaves or " grass " trimmed a little, and are struck in sand 

 about an inch apart, with a bell-glass closely fixed over 

 them. If well watered at first, they will not require it 

 again for some time. They are planted about three-quar- 

 ters of an inch deep, and treated like other herbaceous 

 cuttings. Under a north wall they succeed finely. 



Root Cuttings. — Many shrubs and plants are in this 

 way most easily increased. Pyrus Japonica, blackberry, 

 rose, apple, pear, quince, elm, mulberry, osage orange, 

 etc., if their roots are cut in pieces some three to nine 

 inches long, and planted vertically with the end nearest 

 the stem up, and covered slightly with earth, will soon 

 form buds and throw up shoots. Many herbaceous plants, 

 as sea-kale, horseradish, Japan anemone, etc., are thus 

 increased. Of these the cuttings are made short, and, 

 except the second named, planted horizontally. 



