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other methods of producing new plants. The easiest way 

 of all is what is known as propagation by suckers, for 

 nature does nearly all the work herself. Shoots that 

 grow up into the air from stems or roots that are under- 

 ground are called suckers. Blackberries and red rasp- 

 berries are common examples of plants that may be propa- 

 gated by suckers. Plants produced from suckers have 

 usually less strength than the parent plant and each new 

 generation is likely to be weaker than the last. The only 

 part that man has to do in growing plants by this method 

 is to cut off the stem or root that joins the sucker to the 

 parent plant, and transplant the new plant. 



A branch curving downward until it touches the 

 ground and sends out roots is called a stolon. When the 

 roots have developed sufficiently the new plant may be 

 separated from the old one by cutting off the stem that 

 joins them. The black raspberry propagates itself natu- 

 rally by means of stolons. A layer is really just an artifi- 

 cial stolon. To try your skill at this method of propaga- 

 ting, take a stem of a currant which is near the ground 

 and cover one of the joints or nodes with the soil. A 

 node, as you have probably learned elsewhere, is the 

 place where a leaf joins or has joined the stem. At these 

 joints growth seems most active and from them roots 

 usually start first when cuttings or layers are being made. 



CUTTINGS. 



A cutting is the name for that piece of a plant which 

 if cut off and planted in proper soil will grow and become 

 like the parent plant, This cutting may be a portion of 

 the stem, the root, a leaf or only a part of the leaf. It 

 may be taken from the hard and ripened wood of a tree, 

 or from the green stem of a geranium ; it may be only the 

 ragged fragment of a begonia leaf standing in the sand, 



