CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO A -CUTTING. 285 



gation by cuttings, it appears tha t roots are form ed by the 

 action_ofleaves; that branches are developed from the bnds; I 

 and that the buds are maintained b y the suita ble aliment store d ; 

 upjnthejtfiji. Everything beyond this seems to be connected 

 with specific constitutional powers, of which science can give 

 no explanation. 



In considering what conditions are most favourable to . the 

 maintenance of a cutting in the state required, in order to 

 enable it to become a young plant, it wiU be most convenient, 

 in the first place, to examine the rationale of some one method 

 which is known to be successfiil. For this purpose, the follow- 

 ing detail, by Mr. Knight, of his mode of striking the Mulberry, 

 is selected : — 



"A considerable number of cuttings were taken from the 

 most vigorous bearing branches of a Mulberry-tree, in the 

 middle of November, 1813, and were immediately reduced to 

 the length adapted to small pots, in which I proposed them 

 ultimately to be planted, and which were between four and five 

 inches deep. Each cutting was composed of about two parts 

 of two-years-old wood, that is, wood of the preceding year, and 

 about one third of yearling wood, the produce of the preceding 

 summer ; and the. bottom of each was cut so much aslope, 

 that its surface might be nearly parallel with that of the bottom 

 of the pot in which it was to be placed. 



" The cuttings were then inserted in the common ground 

 nnder a south wall, and so deeply immersed in it that one bud 

 only remained visible above its surface, and in this situation 

 they remained till April. At this period the buds were much 

 swollen, and the upper ends of the cuttings appeared similar to 

 those of branches which had been shortened in the preceding 

 autumn, and become incapable of transmitting any portion of 

 the ascending fluid. The bark at the lower ends had also 

 begun to emit those processes which usuaHy precede the pro- 

 duction of roots. The cuttings were now removed to the pots 

 to which they had been previously fitted, and placed in a 

 moderate hot-beff ; a single bud only of each cutting remained 

 visible above the mould, and that being partially covered ; and 

 in this situation they vegetated with so much vigour, and 



