CHAPTEE XXin. 



PBOPAQATION OF PLANTS BY SEEDS AND CUTTINGS. 



In order to keep up a supply of plants and to mul- 

 tiply indiTiduals of merit, some method of propagation 

 must be employed, the one selected being that best 

 suited to the particular species or Tariety. Many of our 

 plants are known as annuals, from the fact that they will 

 grow and mature seed in one season, after which they 

 die. As a rule, such plants are reproduced the follow- 

 ing year from the seeds, which are freely produced. 



The methods of propagation known as grafting, 

 budding and layering, are also sometimes employed in 

 growing greenhouse plants, but a more common way is 

 by means of sections of the plants, known as cuttings, 

 which are removed and subjected to such influences as 

 will induce them to throw out roots. Another method 

 of division, used with plants that sucker freely, is the 

 division of the roots, the plants being separated into two 

 or more portions, each consisting of a piece of root sur- 

 mounted by a stem, or at least bearing a bud. When- 

 3ver it can be used, this is one of the surest methods of 

 multiplying plants, and some species can be increased 

 very rapidly when other methods fail, or are, for some 

 reason, unsatisfactory. 



GROWING OE PLANTS EEOM SEEDS. 



Not only are our annual plants readily increased 

 from seeds, but the method is also employed in multi- 

 plying many of our biennials and perennials, and is our 

 only means, except in case of sports developed by bud 



287 



