CHAPTER XIX 



Plant Propagation 



WHY don't you propagate more of your plants and share your 

 good ones with your neighbor? Nothing is more interesting 

 than to get a slip from a neighbor. Plants of this sort carry 

 with them memories of your friend which add to the charm of the 

 plant itself. By doing so you will add to the number of garden lovers. 

 Hardwood Cuttings. People are afraid to cut up plants. They 

 wish they had a whole hedge of a certain shrub instead of one plant. 

 If that is true in your case, do this: In the Fajl, cut up in six-inch 

 lengths the good, strong, whip-like branches of such plants as Privet 

 and Hydrangeas; tie them in bundles and either bury them in a sandy 

 knoU, or place them in a box of sandy soil in the basement. Absolutely 

 cover them. Water "them occasionally. By Springtime the wood 

 will have healed over a bit at the base and the cuttings should then' 

 ^ be placed in a well prepared soil so that only two buds are 



above ground. Glhobing Roses, Grapes, Currants, Gold- 

 en Bell, Spiraeeis, Lilacs, WiUows, Mock Orange, Dog- 

 woods and Deutzias are quite easily propagated in this 

 [ meumer. Note the illustration; it shows how wood should 



S[ not be left above the top bud, and how the base of cut- 

 tings should be cut clean just below a bud or buds. If the 

 leaves are on the plant, cut them all off. 



SoFT-WooDED Cuttings. You can easily multiply your 

 shrubs and even Roses during the'Smnmer if you will make 

 sUps, and be sure to get them short. 

 Three inches is long enough. 

 The sU^ should have a few 

 leaves at top; the others should 

 be removed. This type of cutting 

 is called a soft-wooded cutting. 

 Cuttings have no roots, no 

 method of taking up food from 

 the soil so that food stored in 

 the stem and leaves which should 

 produce roots is lost by evapora- 

 .d tion if too much fohage remains a toft wood (Chryuntiieniiimy cot- 

 '■ on the cutting; if the leaves are ^- *"^fttri« "" ' '"• '''°'' 



