PROPAGATION OP PLANTS. 



Ill 



cutting requires more moisture in the soil than if it were 

 a rooted plant. 



To recapitulate ; the principal points to be attended to 

 in making cuttings are to cut off the shoot at a joint, with- 

 out harming the stem ; to select shoots with well matured 

 buds ; to fix the end which is to send out roots firmly 

 in the soil; to keep up an equable degree of heat and 

 moisture; to cut off part of the leaves and shade the 

 whole, to prevent evaporation, without too much excluding 

 light, of which a portion is needed to stimulate the cut- 

 ting into growth; to keep the soil moist but not too 

 damp. It is well to transplant them into small pots, 

 supplied with water regularly and moderately as soon as 

 they begin to grow. Cuttings of slow-growing plants are 

 those most liable to fail. An excess of heat, cold air, 

 water, and light, are all injurious to tender cuttings. 



Pipings* — Cuttings of plants with tubular stems, like 

 the pink, are called pipings. The upper part of a shoot, 

 when nearly done growing, is pulled out of the socket 

 close above a joint, leaving the part pulled out with a pipe 

 like termination. These pipings usually have their leaves 

 or " grass " trimmed a little, and are struck in sand about 

 an inch apart, with a bell-glass closely fixed over them. 

 If well watered at first, they will not require it again for 

 some time. They are planted about f of an inch deep, 

 and treated like other herbaceous cuttings. Under a north 

 wall they succeed finely. 



Root Cuttings* — Many shrubs and plants are in this 

 way most easily increased. Pyrus Japonica, blackberry, 

 rose, apple, pear, quince, elm, mulberry, osage orange, 

 etc., if their roots are cut in pieces some three to nine 

 inches long, and planted vertically with the end nearest 

 the stem up, and covered slightly with earth, will soon 

 form buds and throw up shoots. Many herbaceous plants, 

 as sea kale, horseradish, Japan anemone, etc., are thus in- 



