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THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



others that have been less highly fed. Some 

 kinds of trees, as the Willow and Poplar, strike 

 from either old or young wood; but most strike 

 more readily, and make the best plants, from 

 well-matured shoots of the current year's growth. 

 In the case of hard-wooded plants difficult to 

 strike, considerable nicety is required in select- 

 ing a portion of the shoot, the wood of which is 

 neither too old and hard, nor too young and 

 soft ; for in the former case roots are not readily 

 emitted, whilst in the latter the cuttings are apt 

 to damp off. A knowledge of the proper degree 

 of firmness which the cutting should possess can 

 only be acquired by practice, and this differs in 

 different plants. When not exactly known, it is 

 well to insert cuttings of different degrees of 

 firmness, and observe for future guidance the 

 condition in which they succeed the best. 



Time of taking off Cuttings. — The cuttings of 

 hardy deciduous trees and shrubs should be 

 taken off preferably in autumn, before the fall 

 of the leaf, or early in spring, as soon as the sap 

 begins to move. As it expands, by the increased 

 warmth of spring, the buds swell, and sap is 

 returned to form callosities, and the more readily 

 if placed in soil that is moist and warm. It is 

 not as a rule advisable to take cuttings from 

 such plants when the sap is in full flow, and 

 when the leaves from buds formed in the 

 previous summer are just expanding, although 

 young green shoots will sometimes strike freely if 

 placed in a close frame or on a hot-bed. At that 

 period of their vegetation they evaporate the 

 moisture contained in the cutting with great 

 rapidity, and at the same time return organized 

 tissue but slowly, so that before enough of it 

 to produce roots is accumulated, the cutting is 

 exhausted. As a general rule, cuttings should 

 be taken off either when the growth of the 

 plant is in a half-ripened state, or when it is 

 about to spring into fresh growth. 



Cuttings of soft-wooded plants in spring, and 

 of hard-wooded plants in autumn, is a good 

 general rule for the planting of all cuttings. 

 This applies specially to plants that are not easily 

 raised for cuttings. There are, of course, hosts 

 of garden plants which may be readily propa- 

 gated at any season of the year. All, however, 

 succeed better at one period than another. 

 Plants which fail in one month should be tried 

 the next, and so on, till the right time is hit 

 upon. There are, generally speaking, time and 

 treatment which answer foi all plants. Numer- 

 ous instances could be given of plants which 

 were supposed to be impossible to raise from 

 cuttings, but which afterwards proved to be 



easily managed when tried at an unexpected 

 season or under some peculiar treatment. Again, 

 cuttings of very young shoots have succeeded 

 where those of ripe wood have failed. 



Preparation of Cuttings. — In the south of 

 Europe, where the ground is much warmer 

 than in this country, branches of Apple or 

 Pear trees, of the thickness of a man's wrist, 

 are cut into lengths of 2 or 3 feet, pointed, and 

 driven into the ground, where they strike root, 

 and soon form strong-stemmed plants. Stout 

 Willow-stakes are sometimes driven in, to form 

 a fence in watery places, or to mark a boun- 

 dary in such situations, and they soon take 

 root. In one instance Willow-stakes for this 

 purpose had been sharpened at the smaller or 

 top end, and driven in bottom upwards; yet 

 they grew, although not so freely at first, as if 

 the sap had risen through vessels not so inverted. 

 Cuttings of many plants — as, for instance, the 

 Gooseberry and Currant — emit roots, not only 

 from the base of the cutting, but also along the 

 side. In these and other kinds of cuttings from 

 deciduous trees the buds on the under-ground 

 part of the cutting must be cut, picked, or 

 rubbed out, otherwise they would, sooner or 

 later, push into shoots, and produce an incon- 

 venient number of suckers. 



When a plant is difficult to strike by the 

 ordinary mode of cutting off a portion of branch 

 or shoot for immediate insertion it is a good plan 

 to ring it below a joint about midsummer. The 

 returning sap being checked, a swelling com- 

 mences above the ring, and continues to increase 

 till active vegetation ceases in autumn. The 

 branch should then be cut off below the ring, 

 and laid in the soil till spring, in order that the 

 swelling may be softened by the moisture of the 

 soil, to facilitate the formation of roots. In spring 

 the cutting is taken up, and the ringed portion 

 cut off close by the under part of the swelling ; 

 the cutting is then again inserted in the soil to 

 the proper depth, the top having been previously 

 shortened to a few buds above the joint corre- 

 sponding with the surface. Instead of ringing, 

 a ligature is sometimes employed to obstruct the 

 returning sap. For this purpose a small wire is 

 generally used, but in many cases a piece of fine 

 twine, drawn very tightly, will answer better, 

 as it is not liable to corrode, like metallic sub- 

 stances. 



Instead of being cut off, the portion to be pro- 

 pagated, consisting of a lateral shoot, is occa- 

 sionally torn off with a heel, the separation 

 presenting a somewhat oval surface, which is 

 smoothed with a sharp knife. The section then 



