APPENDIX. 157 



A Gardener's Gut. — " In England a carpenter or 

 barber will gravely show one how to make a 

 gardener's cut so as to ensure the growth of a 

 cutting. According to such authorities a cutting 

 should be made so that the cut end may form a 

 very obtuse angle." — Woodrow, " Gardening in 

 India," 1888, page 110. 



The Seat of Vitality. — Many persons think that 

 there is something especially vital in the collar or 

 neck of a plant, from the fact that most plants cut 

 off at that point are thereby killed. The reason 

 for this is that ordinary plants have no buds on 

 their roots, and are therefore unable to sprout, and 

 must ultimately die if cut off at the base of the 

 stem. 



Potatoes Mixing in the Hill. — It is sometimes 

 said that two kinds of potatoes planted together in 

 a hill will mix and form an intermediate variety. 

 No one, so far as known, has tried to prove this by 

 experiment, and the idea has doubtless arisen from 

 the failure to understand the true nature of the 

 sexes in plants. Plants mix or cross in the blossom 

 only. Sports or variations which are not the result 

 of crossing sometimes occur, and these may have 

 given rise to the idea of direct mixing of tubers in 

 the hill. 



Cactus Leaves. — "Most of the species of this 



