FORMATION OF ROOTS ON CUTTINGS. 55 



bed, and it should be well mixed with the soil. In most 

 cases, a well-drained soil gives best results, but some cut- 

 tings root and grow well in wet soils, or even in standing 

 water, as poplars, willows, some of the dogwoods, plane- 

 tree, and others. 



The Formation of Roots. — As a rule, roots arise must 

 readily from a joint, and it is, therefore, a common 

 practice to cut oiT the base of the cutting just be- 

 low a bud, as shown in the grape cutting. Fig. 59. 

 Sometimes the cutting is severed at its point of 

 attachment to the parent branch, and a small por- 

 tion, or "heel," of that branch is allowed to re- 

 main on the cutting. This heel may be nothing 

 more than the curved and hardened base of the 

 cutting at its point of attachment, as in the cornus 

 cutting. Fig. 60. Sometimes an entire section of 

 the parent branch is removed with the cutting, as 

 in the "mallet" cuttings of grapes, Fig 61. Of 

 course, comparatively few heel or mallet cuttings 

 can be made from a plant, as only one cutting is 

 obtained from a branch, and it is ad\'isable, there- 

 fore, to "cut to buds" rather than to "cut to 

 heels;" yet there are many plants which demand 

 a heel, if the most satisfactory results are ti:) be 

 obtained. The requirements of the different si)e- 

 cies in this regard can be learned only by ex[)e- 

 rience ; but it may be said that in general tliu 

 hardest or closest wooded ])lants require a heel 

 or a joint at the base. Willows, currants, bass- ^ (.rape 

 woods, and others with like soft wood, emit roots "^"''"'ei-^'.?) 

 readily between the buds, yet even in these cases propa- 

 gators generally cut to buds. 



Wounds upon plants tjegin tu heal by the formation of 

 loose, cellular matter which gives rise to .a mass of tissue 

 known as a callus. This tissue eventually ro\ers the entire 

 wound, if complete healing results. As a rule, the first 

 apparent change in a cutting is the formation (jf a callus 



