VARIOUS WAYS OF GROWING PLANTS 77 



either send up shoots or send down roots. When cut away 

 they will grow, and can be set elsewhere. 



A very important method of growing plants is by means of 

 cuttings. By this method a few years will see a small stick 

 of poplar transformed into a tall tree. Every year nursery- 

 men and greenhousemen use cuttings to start many thou- 

 sands of plants of different kinds : roses, geraniums, begonias, 

 grape, willows, privet. Fresh pieces of stem, of root, and 

 sometimes even of leaf, are simply set in moist sand or earth ; 



Fig. 44. — Tip-layering of black raspberry. 



and if the work is properly done, the cutting will strike root 

 and send out leaves. The methods of making cuttings vary 

 with the plants. Here are directions for some of the simplest. 



For rooting cuttings in the house, one should have a box 

 about five inches deep. In the bottom of this, holes should be 

 bored to let out water. Then should be put in an inch of 

 gravel or broken pots, and then four inches of clean, sharp 

 sand, not too fine. 



The cuttings are made from almost any of the house-plants, 

 balsam, roses, geraniums, fuchsia, and others. They should 

 be taken from near the tips of the shoots, where the stem may 

 be snapped off. If it bends without breaking, it will not do. 

 The cut should be made just above a joint, and should be 



