CUTTINGS. 



289 



spring, or during summer, wlien the operation is to be accomplished upon 

 young wood, which always strikes soonest. The best wood for this pur- 

 pose is the young, firm, fully-formed tips of the lateral branches, but 

 these must have attained their full groT\1;h, as well as the leaves upon 

 them, and be made and planted in the cutting-pit if possible before they 

 begin to flag, or their leaves droop. Some cultivators place much im- 

 portance on the part of the plant from which the cutting is to be taken. 

 Some prefer the tips of the lateral shoots, as above, and think that they 

 produce plants more apt to become free-flowerers, although of less robust 

 habits : others prefer the young upright shoots, taken off early in spring, 

 and think that they make the most handsome plants. ^Ye think either 

 may be taken with equal success as to the state of the future plant. The 

 lateral shoots can in general be better spared from the original plant 

 Tsithout disfigm-ing it, and may in all cases be obtained in greater 

 numbers. 



The late Gushing, who had most extensive practice in these matters, 

 has these remarks : — " The cuttings of many plants, if taken from the 

 lateral shoots, never become proper erect stems, but are incHned at all 

 times to form an irregular, bushy, weak head : this is not of small import- 

 ance to such collectors as cultivate plants merely for the flowers, as such 

 heads generally produce them sooner than luxuriant leaders. The lovers 

 of handsome, erect plants, however, choose their cuttings from the upright 

 shoots, early in the season, before they acquire that luxuriance of growth 

 so unfit for the purpose of propagation. The tops of the shoots are to be 

 preferred, unless they happen to flag before being used." 



In preparing them for planting, much care is required, and a very old 

 and too general error guarded against, namely, taking off all or shortening 

 most of the leaves, than which nothing is more hurtful and injurious, par- 

 ticularly to evergreens, and such most tropical plants may be considered, 

 as few of them, comparatively, shed their foUage. This is rationally ac- 

 counted for in the following way : the inherent sap of the cutting being 

 deprived of their leaves, which are the organs of respiration, and having 

 no roots to produce new ones, the sap consequently becomes stagnated 

 in the pores of the wood, which is somewhat similar to the stagnation of 

 blood in animals, and will produce mortification, and finally death. Too 

 many cuttings, unless of the most succulent sorts, should not be taken 

 off at once, and these should be planted as soon as made, and during the 

 process they should be kept as much from the air as possible. 



In preparing cuttings, it should be borne in mind that the power of pro- 

 ti-uchng roots rests almost entirely in those parts of the branch or stem 



