PBOPAGAXIOlf BY CUTTINGS. 151 



buds on ligneous plants must exist on or ■ffithin a cutting 

 to enable it to produce roots, it is only necessary to take 

 a section of the stem between the buds (called the inter- 

 uode), of some kind of plant that has no latent buds — for 

 instance, a young shoot of a Grapeyine, or closely allied 

 plant, and make such a cutting produce roots, which it 

 will readily do if placed under favorable conditions. No 

 buds will be produced or appear, yet roots will be pro- 

 duced more or less abundantly, or in proportion to the 

 natural -vitality of the cutting and the amount of avail- 

 able material which it contains. Of course the roots 

 cannot grow to any considerable size, or for any consid- 

 erable period of time, without the assistance of buds and 

 leaves for assimilating the nutriments which the new 

 roots absorb from surrounding materials. 



That roots will live and continue to grow for longer or 

 shorter periods, drawing sustenance from the material 

 previously stored up in the plant, and upon that which 

 they absorb without the assistance of leaves or buds, is 

 too well known to be questioned. The tubers of herba- 

 ceous Paeonias and Dahlias, the thick fleshy roots of the 

 common Ehubarb and many similar plants, will, when 

 deprived of buds, live and continue to emit new roots for 

 an entire season, and even for a longer period, but event- 

 ually perish, as they do not seem to possess the power of 

 producing buds, except at the crown of the plant, where 

 there is always a large number of buds. 



The proper length to make cuttings will necessarily 

 ^■ary somewhat, accordmg to the character of the plant 

 from which they are made, as well as the manner of plant- 

 mg them. Cuttings of some kinds of trees that produce 

 roots very freely, like the Willows and some of the Pop- 

 lars, may be several feet m length, especially if set in 

 moist ox wet soils ; while the other extreme in size may be 

 H single bud with an inch or two of the branch attached. 

 The single bud cutting is often employed with free-root- 



