56 BULLETIN 24, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the young sprouts later take their origin are rubbed off or injured. 
Liability to such injury can be largely reduced by tying the cuttings 
into bundles of any convenient size, which will also facilitate their 
counting. The tops should all be laid in the same direction, in order 
to facilitate planting. Although cuttings will sometimes grow when 
planted top downward, their growth in this position is not thrifty. 
TREATMENT BEFORE PLANTING, 
Cuttings are set out either plain or rooted. Plain cuttings may be 
set out either fresh or callused. A fresh cutting, however, is not so 
well equipped to establish itself in a slightly unfavorable new en- 
vironment as is a young seedling whose roots can at once absorb 
‘nourishment. The cutting must first heal over the cut surfaces, 
which it does by forming a callus. It is then prepared to send out 
new roots, usually from this callused surface, but often also from 
points along the stem. During this period of adaptation and root 
formation suitable moisture conditions are essential. The soil should 
be well drained, permeable, and moderately warm. Weeds, grass, or 
brush should be kept down. 
On the more unfavorable sites it is advisable to use callused cut- 
tings, or even rooted stock. Callused cuttings have the cut surface 
healed over prior to planting, and are produced by burying bundles of 
cuttings In moist sand. If they are made in the fall and buried out- 
doors, the sand should cover them to a depth of about 2 feet to keep 
them moist and protect them from freezing. The surface soil should 
be protected with a covering of straw or leaves. Another good method 
consists of packing the bundles in boxes of moist sand which are 
stored in a cool room or cellar not subject to freezing. Stock kept 
in this way over winter should be in prime condition for early spring 
planting. If the cuttings are not prepared till spring, they should 
not be buried so deeply. At this season of the year the formation of 
the callus can be more quickly induced by selecting a spot with a 
southern exposure and a mellow, porous, and moist soil. The cut- 
tings, bundled as before, should be buried with the large end within 
an inch or two of the surface. After 2 or 3 weeks, provided the 
ground is kept uniformly moist, the warmth of the soil will stimu- 
Jate the healing of the cut surface. Where cuttings are set in nursery 
rows for the summer this treatment will considerably increase the 
percentage surviving at the end of the season. In burying the cut- 
tings the buds must not be damaged. 
On rather dry surface soils or where the young stock must grow 
rapidly to keep above weeds it is unwise to use any but rooted stock. 
One-year-old seedlings meet the requirement, but rooted cuttings will 
also prove valuable and may sometimes be superior to seedlings 
because of greater height. These are merely cuttings that have been 
