SG ELEMENTARY FORESTRY. 
CUTTINGS. 
Cuttings are pieces of the branches or roots which have the 
power of growing and forming new plants when placed in moist 
sand, soil or other material. For example, the pieces of the 
twigs on branches of many kinds of willows and poplars, when 
taken while the tree is dormant, will root when placed in moist 
soil, but there are few other trees that grow as readily from cut- 
tings as these. Cuttings of the roots of many kinds of trees, 
as the White Poplar, Wild Plum, Yellow Locust, and many 
others that sprout from the roots, will grow if treated about the 
same way as branch cuttings. 
In growing trees from cuttings the source of the cuttings is 
not of so great importance as the source of the seed from which 
the stock trees were grown, for the qualities of individual trees 
are probably not permanently or greatly changed by climate. 
For instance, trees grown from the cuttings of Russian Poplars 
would be as hardy in Minnesota if the cuttings came from St. 
Louis, where they had been growing for years, as they would be 
if imported direct from Siberia. However, owing to a longer 
growing season at St. Louis, the wood might be of a more open 
texture, and perhaps might not resist cold as well as Minnesota- 
grown wood; but after one season’s growth in Minnesota it 
would probably be as hardy. The same would hold true of 
plants propagated by any method of division. With the excep- 
tion of Willows and Poplars, very few of our ornamental trees 
grow readily from cuttings. The best time to make cuttings is 
in the fall, as soon as the leaves will strip easily from the twigs. 
Most of the willows and poplars will grow readily from cuttings 
made in the spring, and even those made in summer will gener- 
ally grow if planted in moist soil. For this purpose the smaller 
branches with the leaves removed should be used. They may 
also be rooted from growing twigs with the leaves left on, pro- 
vided the cut surfaces are placed in water, as they would be if 
stuck in the soil of a swamp or treated the same as cuttings of 
geraniums. These latter ways, however, are not to be depended 
upon for general propagation purposes. 
The Form and Size of Cuttings is a matter upon which 
there is great difference of opinion. Cuttings of the Willow 
from one bud each and only an inch or two long up to those a 
