106 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



case of hard-wooded plants that are hard to strike, it is a 

 nice matter to select a portion of shoot in which the wood 

 is neither too old and hard, from which roots will not be 

 readily emitted, or too young and soft, as in this case they 

 will damp off. Rose cuttings strike most readily when 

 not quite fully matured. The proper state of firmness dif- 

 fers in different species. The age at which a cutting of 

 any species will strike best or strike at all, is determined 

 by experiment, but when once ascertained, it is invariably 

 the same. The proper age of an untried species may be 

 proximately determined from that of the most closely re- 

 lated species in which it is known, and will often prove 

 to be right if the species are nearly allied. 



Some cuttings require little preparation. A willow may 

 be sharpened and driven into the soil and will take root, 

 and in some instances has done so, if planted bottom up- 

 wards. Currants and gooseberries, cut into suitable 

 lengths, will emit roots not only from the callus, but from 

 any part beneath the soil. Of these, as of cuttings of all 

 deciduous trees, the buds on the part of the cutting be- 

 neath the soil must be removed before planting, or they 

 will push and become shoots. Cuttings of which the 

 leaves have fully performed their office, and the wood is 

 ripened early in the season, if made and planted out in 

 warm, moist soil, will form roots before winter, and be 

 ready to push into vigorous growth in spring. Such cut- 

 tings, planted in August or early in September, are nearly 

 a year in advance of spring-planted cuttings. 



Cuttings of plants, difficult to strike, may have a ring 

 of bark taken out just beneath a joint, at mid-summer, 

 which will cause a swelling of the branch above the ring. 

 The branch is cut off in autumn at the base of the swell- 

 ing, the top shortened, and it is planted as a cutting, or 

 it is buried in the soil for the swelling to soften, and plant- 

 ed early in the spring. With plants that are not very free 

 to strike, it is from the joints only that roots can be ex- 



