PROPAGATION BY CUTTINGS. 



347 



sorts are so by grafting, budding, suckers, or 

 layers. 



Cuttings of hardy fruit trees should be taken 

 off any time between the shedding of the leaves 

 in autumn and the first swelling of the buds in 

 spring. The earlier, however, they are taken 

 off and planted after the ripening of the wood 

 the better, as in, this case the callus will form 

 at their base during winter, and the roots com- 

 mence to push out early in spring. A some- 

 what shaded and cool place, such as behind a 

 north wall, is the most proper ; and one exposed 

 much to the sun is the worst that could be 

 chosen. During April and May, while their 

 roots are forming, they will derive considerable 

 benefit from the partial shade of the wall, if 

 not planted nearer it than 3 or A feet; while 

 by the end of June, and through July and Au- 

 gust, they will enjoy a sufficient amount of sun- 

 shine. By the end of October they will be ready 

 for transplanting into nursery lines in the open 

 garden. For the various modes of performing 

 the operation applicable to hardy fruit trees, 

 vide articles Vine, Fig, Mulberry, Gooseberry, 

 and Apple. 



Cuttings of hardy deciduous trees and shrubs 

 are for the most part taken off in autumn, when 

 the wood becomes ripe, and may be either 

 planted at the same time, or laid in pretty thickly 

 in the soil, having one-third of their lower ends 

 covered with earth. In this way space is eco- 

 nomised ; and as the callosity will form at their 

 root ends, if brought in close contact with the 

 earth, as well in this position as if planted out, 

 they may afterwards be planted when time per- 

 mits, only the earlier in spring the better. 



Cuttings of Conifero3.-M.any of these are now 

 found to propagate freely by this means, and 

 many fine plants are already in our collections, 

 even of the very recently introduced sorts, such 

 as Taxodium sempervirens, Cryptomeria japo- 

 nica, and the funebral cypress. The hardier 

 and more common sorts, as the Arbor vitce, Irish 

 or upright yew, Swedish juniper, and many of 

 the small-leaved kinds of pines, if the cuttings 

 are taken off as soon as they have completed 

 their annual growth, and planted in a shady 

 border, or in a pit with a northern exposure, will 

 root freely, and make as good plants as if origi- 

 nated from seed. The following very judicious 

 directions have recently been given by Mr Ap- 

 pleby, in the ninth volume of " The Cottage Gar- 

 dener," p. 242 : (i The way to manage Coniferss 

 is first to prepare a pot to put them in ; drain it 

 well, and cover the drainage with a little moss ; 

 then fill the pot to within an inch of the top 

 with a compost of loam and sandy peat, mixing 

 it freely with sand ; upon this place an inch of 

 pure sand, watering it gently, to settle it and 

 make it firm. Then prepare the cuttings — take 

 them off the tree just at the point where the 

 last made wood joins to the wood made the pre- 

 vious year ; trim off, without wounding the bark, 

 the lower leaves and branches, if any, and insert 

 the cuttings in rows across the pot till it is full. 

 The best time to do this is about the month of 

 October, though they will do pretty well up to 

 the March following. Water the cuttings gently, 

 and allow the tops to dry, then place them in a 



gentle hot-bed, just warm enough to cause them 

 to form a swelling at the base, but not so hot as 

 to .induce shoots, unless the operator has the 

 convenience of a greenhouse to harden them off. 

 They do not require bell-glasses, or at least will 

 root very well without them. In putting in 

 cuttings of Coniferse in the above manner, I refer 

 more especially to the more rare kinds, such as 

 the Cryptomarias, some Cupressuses, Taxodium 

 sempervirens, Arbor vitce, and some of the genus 

 Taxus. Others that are more common may be 

 successfully propagated by cuttings put in early 

 in the autumn, under hand-glasses, on a north- 

 west border, where the sun leaves them about 

 ten o'clock. For such the ground should be 

 prepared in a similar way to that in the cutting- 

 pots, and the cuttings put in by the same method. 

 The hand-glasses should be kept on through the 

 winter, and removed as soon as they begin to 

 grow in spring." This excellent cultivator re- 

 commends taking up the cuttings and potting 

 them, and placing them under a cold frame to 

 encourage their free growth, and most wisely 

 recommends their being planted out into nur- 

 sery-rows before the roots become matted round 

 the sides of the pots. In the case of Araucaria 

 excelsa, which is rarely propagated successfully 

 by cuttings, he recommends taking out the cen- 

 tral shoot, or main leader, which will induce 

 several other leaders to push up, any of which 

 may be taken off as soon as formed, and put in 

 as cuttings. This will no doubt secure young 

 trees of perfect form, keeping the original as a 

 stock to provide future supplies. 



Cuttings of partially ripened wood. — In this 

 state most hardy evergreen shrubs are propa- 

 gated, as well as roses, particularly the China, 

 tea-scented, and most climbing sorts, which, if 

 put in towards the end of summer in a sheltered 

 somewhat shaded place, will form their callosity 

 during winter, and root freely in spring. Of 

 greenhouse plants, the camellia, oleander, and 

 similar plants, may be given as examples. These 

 should be allowed to form their callosity in a 

 low temperature, which should be increased as 

 the roots begin to appear. 



Cuttings of young wood.— Themajority of hardy 

 soft- wooded flowering plants will readily root by 

 this means. Pinks, carnations, double wall- 

 flowers, and most double-flowering herbaceous 

 plants, penstemons, salvias, verbenas, dwarf lo- 

 belias, snap-dragon, lychnis, mimulus, &c, may 

 be given as examples. And of soft-wooded green- 

 house plants, pelargoniums, fuchsias, cuphia, 

 heliotropium, calceolaria, selago, tropseoluin, 

 maurandia, &c. These should be cut imme- 

 diately under an eye or bud, as shown in fig. 

 122, their lower leaves removed so far only as 

 the cutting is to be planted in the soil or sand, 

 the leaves above that being left entire. They 

 should also be planted as soon after they are 

 removed from the parent plant as possible, to 

 prevent their suffering from unnecessary eva- 

 poration. They should be placed in pots 

 well -drained, and half -filled with the soil 

 congenial to the species ; over that should be 

 laid a covering of pure white sand, in which 

 there are few or no traces of iron or earthy 

 matter, of a thickness somewhat more than 



