THE JOYOUS ART OF GARDENING 



It is enclosed by boards, making a box about six or eight inches 

 high. In this is placed the three-inch layer of drainage, then 

 about four inches of sand. It is necessary that some shade 

 should be arranged — a screen of lath or whitewashing of panes. 

 Flats or Boxes. — ^The shallow two-inch or three-inch deep 

 boxes which were used for starting seed may be filled with 

 sand and utiUzed for starting cuttings, either in the frames or 

 in a window. 



Making the Cuttings 



The Parent. — ^Even in making cuttings a good gardener 

 keeps his eye on the shape of the larger plant, and, other things 



being equal, he cuts 

 as he would be likely 

 to cut back the plant, 

 leaving it reduced in 

 size, of course, but in 

 good shape for putting 

 out a young growth 

 and becoming a thrifty 

 and symmetrical plant 

 for its winter season. 

 The shortened branch- 

 es should be left with the cut just above an "eye." 



The Cutting. — Suppose you are cutting back a rather 

 straggling and overgrown abutilon. (This may be done in late 

 August or early September.) The branches should be taken 

 off at the dotted lines, as shown in the illustration. In some 

 plants — ^begonias, for instance— almost every inch of the wood 

 can be used for cuttings; here only the young growth can be 

 used, and each branch will give but two or three cuttings — 

 in the branch shown only two are made (3) . The length of the 



170 



2 «Bfe.,.Sas- 3 



Abutilon and cuttings from it 



