64 



CUTTAGE. 



variety. It is well known, for instance, that the Delaware 



grape can be propagated more easily in some regions than 



in others. A common style of single-eye cutting is made 



with the eye close 



S to the top end, and 



-'' JL^ a naked base of an 



inch or two. This 

 66. SingU-eye grape cutting (xH). . . . j • ^ -. 



IS mserted mto the 



soil perpendicularly, with the eye just above the surface. 



It is much used for a variety of plants. 



Many coniferous plants are increased by cuttings on a 

 large scale, especially retinosporas, arbor-vitaes, and the 

 like. Cuttings are made of the mature wood, which is 

 planted at once (in autumn) in sand under cover, usually 

 in a cool greenhouse (Fig. 67). Most of the species root 

 slowly, and they often remain in the original flats or 

 benches a year, but their treatment is usually simple. In 

 some cases junipers, yews and Cryptomeria Japonica will 

 not make roots for nearly twelve months, keeping in good 

 foliage, however, and ultimately giving good plants. They 

 are always grown in shaded houses or frames, and some- 

 times in inside propagating-frames (Fig. 47). (For more 

 explicit directions, see Thuya and Reti- 

 nospora, in Chapter VI.) 



Most remarkable instances of prop- 

 agation by means of portions of stems 

 are on record. Chips from a tree 

 trunk have been known to produce 

 plants, and the olive is readily in- 

 creased by knots or excrescences 

 formed upon the trunks of old trees. 

 These excrescences occur in many 

 plants, and are known as knaurs. "T- Spruce cutimg{x}i). 

 They are often abundant about the base of large plane- 

 trees, but they are not often used for purposes of propa- 

 gation. Whole trunks will sometimes grow after having 

 been cut for many months, especially of such plants as 



