SCHOOLTNG OF CUTTINGS. 209 



To prevent the bark from being ruptured, unless the soil is very 

 loose and soft, the cuttings should not be forced into the ground 

 but let into holes made with a stake or dibber. They should be 

 set, if small, in lines, like small seedlings, if large, like large seed- 

 lings ; and the soil in which they are to be put should be as well 

 prepared as possible. 



Cuttings may be divided into three main classes, (a) unpruned 

 rods, (b) pruned rods and (c) posts. 



Unpeuned rods. — -These are young branches, from one to four 

 years old, taken without any selection, and are set in the ground 

 broom-fashion with all their twigs and branchlets intact. It is 

 obvious that such cuttings, once they have struck root, cannot be 

 easily taken up again, and for this reason they are hardly suited 

 for nursery purposes. 



Pruned robs. — These are sections of from one to three-year-old 

 wood, which are carefully selected and cut from amongst the 

 strongest shoots of the parent plant. The upper extremity of the 

 shoot, being always insufficiently lignified, is removed, and all the 

 twigs and leaves are pruned off. The upper end of each rod should 

 bear two or three vigorous buds, and, in putting the rod into the 

 ground, it is best to leave only these buds above the surface. 



Primed rods are par excellence the cuttings to be used in nur- 

 series ; and even then, the smaller they are, the better. 



Posts. — These are stout branches from one and a half to three, 

 four and even five inches in diameter, and from five to sixteen feet 

 long. It is evident that they are unsuited for use in nurseries, 

 save in the very exceptional case of a very rare species being 

 required to be propagated. 



B. Culms- 

 Culms may be used whole or cut up into sections, and they may 

 be completely buried or have one or two nodes above ground. A 

 crown of adventitious roots springs up at the nodes and the bud at 

 each node forms a leafy shoot. The lower nodes strike best, and 

 indeed those situated in the upper half of the culm never strike if 

 the culm is cut up into sections. Culms are most successfully used 

 at the beginning of their second year of growth ; in their first year 

 they are never sufficiently lignified, and do not contain as much 

 reserve constructive materials as they do afterwards, while after the 

 second year the original bud at each node has ceased to exist, 

 having developed into leaf and branch, and the tissues have become 

 too hard to be active enough to produce numerous, strong rootis. 

 In putting down the culms, such branches as interfere with 



