52 THE GEAPK CULTUBISl. 



a line across it, place the back of the spade to the line and 

 throw out the soil, leaving a trench nearly perpendicular 

 at the side next to the line, and a little deeper than the 

 cutting is long; then set the cuttings upright in this 

 trench, unless they are more than six inches long — if so, 

 incline them — ^placing them about three or four inches 

 apart, and so deep that the upper bud will be one inch 

 below the surface of the soil. Fig. 15 shows the position 



Fig. 15. 



of cuttings in the trench before being filled. When the 

 row is filled with cuttings, put in about two inches of soil, 

 and press it down firmly around the base of the cutting ; 

 then fill up the trench evenly, just covering the upper bud, 

 biit do not bury it too deeply. This will leave a shallow 

 basin of an inch in depth the whole length of the row — the 

 dotted lines in Fig. 14, above the upper bud, show the 

 form in which this basin should be left. The rows of cut- 

 tings should be about two feet apart ; the soil between the 

 rows will be about two inches higher in the middle than 

 at the rows. The time required for the cuttings to strike 

 root and push into growth will vary considerably. If there 

 is much rain and the weather is warm, then they will start 

 quite early ; but if the weather is cool, they will often re 

 main comparatively dormant imtil June, and even latei 

 than this, and then start and make a good growth by fall. 

 The upper buds should be carefuUy- preserved from injury, 

 because it is from these that the shoots are usually pro- 

 duced. When the cuttings have made a growth of four 



