6o CUTTAGfi. 



mis, from which adventitious buds may develop. The 

 pseudo-bulbs of some orchids are treated in this manner, 

 or the whole bulb is sometimes planted. A shoot, usually 

 termed an off-shoot, arises from each pseudo-bulb or each 

 piece of it, and this is potted off as an independent plant. 

 (See Orchids, in Chapter \'I. ) 



Cuttings made from the ordinary stems of some tuber- 

 iferous plants will produce tubers instead of plants. This 

 is the case with the potato. The stem cutting produces 

 a small tuber near its lower extremity, or sometimes in 

 the a.xil of a leaf above ground, and this tuber must be 

 planted to secure a new plant. Leaf cuttings of some 

 tuberiferous or bulbiferous plants produce little tubers or 

 bulbs in the same way (see the glo.xinia, Fig. Si ). 

 Hyacinth leaves, inserted in sand in a iVame, will soon 

 produce little Ijulblets at their base, and these can be re- 

 moved and planted in the same manner as the bulbels 

 described in Chapter II. 



Many tubers or tuber-like portions, which possess a 

 very m<3ist or soft interior and a hard or close covering, 

 vegetate more satisfactorily if allowed to dry for a time 



before planting. The 



pseudo- bulbs of orchids, 

 crowns of pine-apples, and 

 „, X ^ cuttings of cactuses are 



examples. Portions of 

 62. Root cutting of blackberrv (.\^i). . 



cactuses and pme-apples 

 are soinetimes allowed to lie in the sun from two to four 

 weeks before planting. This treatment dissipates the 

 excessive moisture, and induces the formation of adven- 

 titious l)uds. 



Root Cuttings. — Many plants can be multiplied with 

 ease by means of short cuttings of the roots, particularly 

 all species which p(jssess a natural tendency to "sucker" 

 or send up sprouts from the root. All rootstocks or 

 underground stems can be made into cuttings, as ex- 

 plained under Division, in Chapter II.; but true root cut- 



