200 APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 



muck vigour, and emitted roots so abundantly, that I 

 do not think one cutting in a hundred would fail, 

 with proper attention. Some of the pots were placed 

 round the edges of a melon bed, which affords a very 

 eligible situation where a few plants only are want- 

 ed." (Horticultural Transactions, ii. 117.) In this 

 case success appears to have depended upon the fol- 

 lowing circumstances: — 



1. The cuttings were prepared in November, at the 

 end of the season of growth, when all the organisable 

 matter required for the cutting was formed, and 

 locked up in the proper places in its interior. It was 

 not necessary, therefore, to take any means of insur- 

 ing a further supply of aliment. But had it been 

 otherwise, that is to say, if the cuttings had been pre- 

 pared in the summer, in the midst of their growth, it 

 would have been indispensable to allow a leaf or two 

 to remain attached to the upper end of the cutting, 

 to assist in the formation of alimentary matter. 



2. Although but one eye was allowed to grow, yet 

 the cuttings themselves were four or five inches long, 

 and they consisted, to the extent of two thirds, of 

 two-years-old wood. By this means the quantity 

 of food for the nascent branch was intended to be so 

 great as to insure it against suffering from an inade- 

 quate supply, until it had formed roots. The im- 

 portance of this has already been shown by Mr. 

 Knight in a previous part of this Book. 



3. The cuttings were taken off in November, and 

 not in the spring.* This gave them time to form 



* [Taking off the cuttings in November is unquestionably the 



