ON PLANT PROPAGATION. 



959 



Stem-Cuttings. — Plants possessing endogenous stems {e.g.^ 

 Cordylines, or Dracaenas, Arundos, and several Aroids) are 

 easily propagated by stem-cuttings. If the stem is provided with 

 leaves each portion may be inserted 

 as a terminal cutting ; if not, the 

 stem will have to be cut into pieces, 

 and these placed as near together as 

 possible in pans or boxes in a very 

 sand)^ compost, with strong bottom- 

 heat and permanent saturation. A 

 quantity of young growths will soon 

 appear from the buds, or eyes, which 

 were at the base ' of the leaves. 

 Strong-growing buds should be cut 

 off and propagated again as cuttings, 

 and this will greatly increase their 

 strength. Others can be removed, 

 potted up separately in small pots, 

 and placed in 

 heat. 



Leaf- Cuttings. — 

 Many plants can be 

 rapidly increased 

 by leaf-cuttings, and 

 these have the great 

 advantage of repro- 

 ducing exactly the 

 parent plants if 

 placed under suit- 

 able conditions re- 

 gard] ng heat, 

 moisture, &c. The 

 leaves root very 



quickly, but require a certain amount of time before they make 

 a head which enables them to grow. This m.ode of repro- 

 duction is almost daily used by growers of Gesneracece and 

 BegoniacecE, who fix most of their new varieties by this method. 

 Many other plants also succeed very well if thus increased — 

 Hemionitis palmata and Streptocarpus for example. 



The leaves are laid on a kind of light bed previously prepared 

 (sand is often used), and well secured with pegs. Several plants 

 can be obtained from a single leaf by making incisions where 

 the young ones are wanted. Such subjects as Begonias, Bryo- 

 phyllums, and Phyllagathis rotundifoiia, do not require a perfect 

 leaf ; a small part possessing some veins will soon give rise to a 

 healthy plant. Leaf-cuttings must be nearly always shaded 

 until the time when the young plants are established, and water 

 must be applied with great care, or damping off may result. 



Fig. 624. — Vine Eye Started. 



