CUTTINGS 51 



always be well drained as explained under ' Seed Sowing,' p. 43. No 

 particular heat is required for the plants mentioned, but in others which 

 do not come within the scope of this work a very high temperature is 

 necessary both above and below to make them throw out roots. 



Cuttings of woody plants differ a good deal from those of soft- 

 wooded or herbaceous plants. In them we have a quite different kind 

 of cutting. The most notable thing is the absence of leaves, but dor- 

 mant buds are shown at the joints where the leaves have fallen away. 

 There are a large number of plants which are easily increased by cuttings 

 of this kind. When the leaves have fallen off naturally in the autumn, 

 the thoroughly ripened stems may be cut into various lengths and put 

 into the soil, allowing them to remain during the winter. In spring 

 the dormant buds will burst into leaf, and in the course of the summer 

 new branches will be developed. All this is a sign that work is being 

 done under the surface of the soil. Beneath the hard woody bark is a 

 layer of green " tissue, with a mass of green young cells full of the 

 active growing material called protoplasm. During the winter the 

 temperature has been too low to start the living matter in the cells into 

 growth, and so they remain idle or dormant. But when the tempera- 

 ture reaches a certain point in the spring it happens to be just suitable 

 for the protoplasm, and the contents of every cell in consequence become 

 active. A ' callus ' is formed at the cut end of the stem in the soil, and 

 by-and-by young roots are developed exactly as in the soft-wooded 

 cuttings, and the process of taking up nourishment from the soil begins 

 in earnest. A large number of trees and shrubs, with net-veined leaves, 

 can be increased in this way, among them being the Virginian Creeper, 

 and its relation, the Ampelopsis Veitchi, which clings to walls, the 

 Willow, Grooseberry, Currant, Mock Orange, Eose, Apple, Pear, Plum, 

 Cherry &c. Of all these it is better to have a shoot about eight or nine 

 inches long, so that about half of it may be inserted in the soil, 

 although cuttings of many others need be only 2-3 in. long. 



Root Cuttings. — Tops of branches and portions of the stems are 

 the usual parts of a plant used for making cuttings. But there are 

 other parts which are equally useful for the same purpose. The root, 

 for instance, of some plants like the Japanese Windflower (Anemone 

 japonica) and the Japanese Quince (Cydonia japonica), Sea Kale, the 

 Eose, and many others, if cut into pieces a couple of inches long, and 

 ' sown ' in the soil as if they were seeds, will produce young plants. 

 As a rule root cuttings are usually best put in a little heat. Only 

 those plants the roots of which have a tendency to develop buds are 

 increased in this way. A distinction must be made between these 

 roots and underground stems. 



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