160 CULTIVATION. 



or joint, because these nodes contain several 

 vital buds, v^^hich, like seeds, protrude fibres 

 more promptly than the internodal parts. The 

 tops of the leaves are cut off, because it is 

 supposed that they draw a part of their nou- 

 rishment from the stem, and therefore should 

 be reduced while the cutting is forming its 

 roots. Althouo'h this mutilation is directlv 

 opposed to the modern doctrine of botanical 

 physiologists respecting the elaborating func- 

 tions of the leaves, yet in this case the practice 

 seems to be right ; because the points, if allowed 

 to remain, very soon die. But whether their 

 juices be abstracted by the exertion of the cut- 

 ting, or fail from the supply of sap from the root 

 being cut off, I shall leave to the practitioner to 

 judge. Before the fibres are protruded from the 

 bottom of the piping, a callosity is first formed, 

 as if exuded from within the inner bark ; from 

 this the fibres are produced ; and while this cal- j 

 losity continues to increase, the cutting lives, 

 but, sometimes, will put forth no fibres till 

 shifted into fresh compost. 



