PREFACE. 



xiii 



Increasing by Eyes is the simplest of all these methods : it consists in nothing 

 but extracting a single system of life, or a bud, from a given plant, placing it in 

 due heat and moisture, and surrounding it with fitting food, and thus causing it 

 to grow as a solitary individual, instead of as one of the community to which it 

 originally belonged. 



" Striking from Cuttings is a slight modification of the last method. Instead 

 of taking a single bud, a stem containing two, three, or more buds, is placed in 

 circumstances fitted for the maintenance of its life. In this case, the chances of 

 success are increased by the additional number of buds which are the subject of 

 experiment. That bud which is the nearest the bottom of the cutting, emits its 

 roots at once into the earth, and so establishes a communication between the ge- 

 neral system of the cutting and the medium from which its food is to be derived. 

 The other buds, by pushing their stems upwards into light, attract the nutriment 

 absorbed by the roots, and so stimulate the latter to increased action. Ultimately 

 the roots of all the buds descend between the bark and the wood until they reach 

 the earth, into which they finally pas?, like those of the first bud. There is an- 

 other circumstance which renders the operation of striking plants from cuttings 

 less precarious than from eyes. In both cases, the buds have, at the outset, to 

 feed upon matter in their vicinity, until they shall have formed roots which are 

 capable of absorbing food from the earth ; but in eyes, the nutritive matter can 

 exist only in such portions of the stem as may have been cut away with them- 

 selves ; while, on the other hand, in cuttings, the stem itself forms an important 

 reservoir of nutriment. This is a consideration, the practical importance of 

 which will be obvious to ever}' cultivator. As it is from the buds alone of cut- 

 tings that roots proceed, it follows, that in cases of difficulty, when plants strike 

 unwillingly, any thing which may facilitate the immediate introduction of roots 

 into the soil will be advantageous. It is for this reason that a good operator 

 always takes care, that the lower end of his cutting is pared down as close to the 

 base of a bud as may be practicable without actually destroying any part of the 

 bud itself; by this means the first emitted roots, instead of having to find their 

 way downwards between the bark and wood, strike at once into the earth, and 

 become a natural channel by which nutriment is conveyed into the general sys- 

 tem of the cutting. 



Laying is nothing but striking from cuttings that are still allowed to maintain 

 their connection with the mother plant by means of a portion at least of their 

 stem. Where roots are emitted with great readiness, simply bending a branch 

 into the soil, leaving its point above ground, is sufficient to ensure the success of 

 the operation ; but in cases of difficulty other expedients are resorted to, all which 

 wUl still be found to have reference to the emission of roots by buds. One com- 

 mon practice is, to head down the branch that is laid into the earth ; this is to 

 call into action the buds below the incision, by stopping the general axis of deve- 

 lopment. Another m.ethod is to tongue the layer, that is, to split the stem just up 

 to the origin of a bud ; a practice that has the effect of enabling the roots to be 

 emitted into the soil through the wound more readily than if they had to pierce 

 through the bark ; the resistance offered to their passage through the bark is in 

 many cases so great as to compel them to continue to make wood rather than to 

 appear in the form that is necessary for the success of ihe cultivator. 



''^Budding SLixd Grrq/^zng- are operations that equally depend for their success 

 upon the property that buds possess of shooting roots downwards and stems up- 

 wards ; but in these practices the roots strike between the bark and wood of the 

 stock, instead of into the earth, and form new layers of wood instead of subterranean 

 fibres. The success of such practices, however, depends upon other causes than 

 those which influence the growth of cuttings. It is necessary that an adhesion 

 should take place between the scion and the stock, so that when the descending 

 fibres of the buds shall have fixed themselves upon the wood of the stock, they 

 may not be liable to subsequent separation. No one can have studied the 

 economy of the vegetable kingdom without having remarked that there is a strong 

 tendency to cohesion in bodies or parts that are placed in contact with each other! 

 Two stems are tied together for some purpose : when the ligature is removed, 

 they are found to have grown into one : two Cucumbers accidentally placed side 

 by side, or two Apples growing in contact with each other, form double Cucum- 

 bers or double Apples ; and most of the normal modifications of the leaves, floral 

 envelopes, or fertilizing organs, are due to various degrees of cohesion in contigu- 



