THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
59 
greater occasion lor care in its removal. Stake 
it effectually, so that it cannot be shaken about; 
if it is loose, the roots cannot exercise their func- 
tions. 
The preservation of the spongioles, or root- 
lets, is indispensable to the vigorous growth of 
the plant. Hence, deey plowing, after cotton 
and corn have attained growth sufficient to send 
their roots out into the lurrow in searchofnour- 
ishment, is decidedly injurious. Hence, also, 
if, when a plant shows too strong an inclination 
to run up into stalk and leaf^ a coulter be run 
close to the plant, the supply of nourishment is 
checked, and fruit-buds instead of leaf-buds 
formed. 
The spongiole is the most delicate part of a 
plant, and the most easily injured ; and, as it 
has no power of selecting its own food, but will 
absorb whatever may be brought in contact 
with it, in a sufficiently fluid state to be taken up 
by it, they not unfrequently, being developed in 
a soil of an unsuitable nature, absorb matter 
that proves injurious or fatal to the life of the 
plant. This may explain why trees suddenly 
become unhealthy, without any external appa- 
rent cause. The removal of the surrounding 
soil, and replacing it with some good compost, 
will most commonly eflect a cure. 
Plants have the power of replacing spongi- 
oles, bylhe formation of new ones; so that, 
though plants are seriously injuredby their loss, 
they may yet recover from the injury. But this 
power depends upon the co-operation of the at- 
mosphere and other circum.stances. If the air 
is damp enough to hinder ev'aporationfrom the 
leaves, spongioles will have time to form anew ; 
but if the atmosphere is dry, the loss by evapo- 
ration will be so much greater than can be sup- 
plied by the injured roots, that the w’hole plant 
will dry up before the new spongioles can form, 
and death will ensue. 
Here we have a key to the operations of 
transplantation and propagation by cuttings, 
scions and buds. Akhough, as I have before 
remarked, roots are destitute of leaf-buds, and 
leaf-buds being essential to the multiplication 
of an individual, it would follow that roots can 
never be employed for the purpose of multipli- 
cation — yet, some roots have the power of gen- 
erating leaf-buds under certain circumstances, 
as the quince, &e. The cause of this power, 
existing in some species and not in others, is 
unknown, and is a power not to be depended 
upon. Cuttings set out previous to the appear- 
ance of the leaves in the spring, will take root 
anvl grow; but this, like the exception just spo- 
ken of, cannot be rejigd on, and js only discov- 
ered by accident. The grape, aed many ether 
vines, some roses, jesamjnes, &c., have this 
power, and may be propagated in that way. If 
attempted, let it be in a sandy or porous soil, in 
which bury the cuttings, which should be of 
some length, so as to leave but a single bud 
above ground. It a little grafting-wax be put 
on both ends, it will render the experiment more 
certain. The immediate cause of the formation 
of roots is at present involved in obscurity ; but 
the faet is well known that some plants, when 
being propagated by cuttjngs, prodiLse roots with 
much more facility, and in a shorter time, than 
others. During the summer, after the young 
shoots of that season have made a growth of 
two or three inches, is the most favorable time 
to form plants from cuttings. The proper me- 
dium to use, is two parts of sharp gapd frqm the 
creek, and one part of good earth, or leaf-mould. 
After laying a foundation of a few' inches of 
"gravel, or broken bricks, inside of a box or 
frame, form a bed of the mixture of sand and 
earth, say to the depth of eight ii)ches, nail a 
few uprights round the frame or bo?, in such a 
way as to support a mat or piece of old carpet, 
to keep off the sun and aip ft is better, when it 
can be done, to lay a glazed sash, as ip forqaing 
a hot-bed, over the bed ; which again can be 
shqdpd by malting. Where the eyp^fiment is 
fit) a smaii s.cale, or the cuftiqgs rare, a flower- 
pot and tumbler or belf of glass will answer ev- 
ery purpose. The cuttings, as 1 before remark- 
ed, are formed of the young shoots of two or 
three inches in length — the shorter the better — 
cutting off w'ith them, with a square cut, half 
an inch or so of old wood ; tri m off all the leaves 
but one or two, and insert the cutting in the 
bed, leaving only a bud or two exposed, and 
within an inch or two of each other. They 
must now be kept shaded, and in a close, warm, 
moist atmosphere— darkness, moisture, (Irora 
frequent watering, the sand not permitting too 
much water to remain, as it drains off,) and per- 
fect rest being necessary, as well as a downward 
circulation of the sap, which is effected by the 
action of the leaves on the upper part of the 
stem — the roots not being able to exist of them- 
selves, without the leaves to create the action 
of drawing up the juices the roots absorb — 
therefore, as a general rule, a cutting without 
leaves will soon perish. In three or lour weeks, 
the cuttings -will give evidence of growing, and 
may be carefully taken up, and planted out in 
nursery rows, and shaded and watered as long 
as necessary. 
There are other methods of propagating, as 
by layers, single buds, and so on, but it will be 
unnecessary for me to say more on this subject 
— the preceeding hints will, I think, suffice. 
To return to the roots and their functions. 
After the juices have circulated through a 
plant, and performed their destined offices, what 
remains unfit for its further nourishment returns 
to the spongioles, and is by them thrown off; 
this substance, so thrown off, is unsuitable, and 
even poisonous to that species of plants, yet is 
not so to other species; it may even be suitable 
to them. Thus, soil may be rendered impure, 
or, as we inaccurately say, zoom out, for one 
species, which will not be impure for others. 
Here we have the true theory of the rotation of 
crops, which, in practice, is found to have cre- 
ated an entire new era in farming, and which 
we would do well to apply to our cotton crop. 
It also accounts for the fact, that young apple 
trees, for instance, cannot thrive when planted 
on the site ofaa oid orchard; where, on the oth- 
er hand, young peach trees would succeed well. 
It likewise accounts for the natural rotation of 
trees, which has been found to exist in the an- 
cient forests of this part of the globe — and for 
the necessity of repotting plants grown in green- 
houses every one or two years, and for many 
other circumstances hitherto unexplained. The 
root is never entirely dormant e.x:cept when fro- 
zen ; during the winter it is slowly collecting 
juices lor the supply of the spring; where the 
period of rest, or winter, is long the store of 
juices is large, and vegetation in the spring is 
rapid and luxuriant. This accounts for the 
quick growth in northern climates, v.'here plants 
commence their growth and mature their fruit 
within the short space of three months. 
The st»m is that part of a plant which is de- 
veloped above ground, and which we here see 
taking an upward direction, on the germination 
of the seed, going iorih to bear leaves and leaf- 
buds, flowers and fruit. The more erect a stem 
grows, the more vigorou-s it is. The stem is 
covered by bark, having pores on its surface, to 
stop up which would be as injurious to the 
health of the plant, as the closing of the pores 
of our skin would be to us, Hepcs, ail thfek, 
paint-like applications to the bark pf trees are 
injurious if allowed to remain for any lengch of 
tim^. I^hitewashing is considered particular- 
ly injurious, as well as in wretched bad taste. 
It is of great advantage, how'ever, to give the 
stems of all fruit and shade trees a good scrub- 
bing once or twice a year, with soft soap and 
water, at the same time scraping off all the 
rough bark or mogs, tijat mjght afford harbor 
for insects, and close up or impede the pores of 
the bark. The stem is increased in diameter 
in some plants by the addition of new matter to 
the outside of the wood & inside of the bark; these 
are designated as exogenous, fer example the oak. 
Others increase by the addition of new matter to 
their inside, as the cane, and are called endoge- 
nous, All know the difference betweep heart- 
wood and sap-zoood — how much more durable the 
one is than the other. The heart-zorod w'as, 
when young, sop-wood, (or albzirnzizn.) It has 
undergone a change \\hich has rendered it sol- 
id, and much less subject to decay — secretions 
conveyed to them from the roots, have been tue- 
pared by the leaves, and returned downwards 
through the bark, and from the bark communi- 
cated to the central part of the stem. To give 
you a full account ot the nature and properties 
of the different parts of the stem and bark, with 
the various discoveries in the circulation of sap, 
and the theories advanced to explain much that 
yet requires explanation, would compel me to 
encroach too much on your time, and moreov- 
er, is not altogether necessary to my purpose. 
Stems have the power of propagating an indi- 
vidual only by means of their leaf-buds — which 
are rudiments of branches, enclosed within 
scales, or imperfectly formed leaves. Leaf- 
buds are at first nourished by the fluid lying in 
the pith, but they finally establish forthemselves 
a communication with the soil by means of the 
woody matter which they send downwards. 
Their developement or growth will, of course, 
bo in proportion to their nourishment; and con- 
sequently when it is wished to procure a young 
shoot of unusual vigor, all others near to it are 
rubbed off, so as to accumulate, for that one 
shoot, all the food that would otherwise have 
been consumed by several. Czdtins hack to a 
fezv eyes, as it is termed by gardeners, is an oper- 
ation in pruning, to produce the same eflect, di- 
recting the sap as it ascends, into the two or 
three buds that are left on the shoot, instead of 
allowing it to be divided amongst the w’hole. 
Many of our finest flowering shrubs, the rose, 
crape myrtle, jessamine, and many others, are 
much benefitted by a pruning of this kind — but 
before practising it, it is well to have an eye to 
the peculiar growth of the plant. Many roses, 
indeed the greatest number of them, produce 
their buds at the termination of the young shoots 
— others again upon the short spuis from the 
old wood, and both should be pruned according- 
ly. The althea, crape myrtle, and others, bear 
their flowers upon the young shoots of that sea- 
son’s growth, which should therefore be nipped 
out, M'here they are loo numerous, before they 
have made more than a few inches’ growth. 
Those that are left, may he cut back to a few 
e}’es, in the fall, by which, for the reason I have 
just given, they will throw out stronger shoots 
the following spring. Plants are very readily 
propagated from leaf-buds; in fact, they closely 
resenible seeds— differing, however, in the leaf- 
bud propagating the particular individual from 
which it is taken, whilst the seed propagates 
only the species. If a cutting with a leaf-bud 
on it, be placed in eircurastances fitted to the de!> 
velopemeni of the latter, it w’ill grow and be- 
come a new plant; certain of these circumstan- 
ces I explained when treating of propagating 
by cuttings — of others I will treat presently. If 
this happens when the cutting is inserted in the 
earth, the new plant is said by gardeners to be 
zzpozi its own bottom. But if it happens under 
other circumstances — w’hen the cutting is an- 
plied to the dissevered end of another individual, 
called a slock, the woody matter which, when 
inserted ip the ground, became roots, is here iiu- 
sipuated into th^e tissue or fibre of the stock, to 
which it thus attaches itself, and Is said to be 
grafted ; the culling being called asciozi. There 
is, therefore, little difference betw'een cuttings 
and scions, except that the former root into the 
earth, and the lafter intq ifie piar 4 t. A piece of 
the stem— or cutting without a leaf-bud so Ideat- 
ed will die; but a leaf bud separated from the 
stem will become a new individual, if its vital 
energy is sufficiently powerful. And this, 
whether it 13 pjanticd in eartli, into which it 
roots, like a cutting — or in a new individual, a 
stock, to which it adheres apd grows like a sci- 
on. In the former case it is called aw eye, in 
the latter a bud. This shows to you the prin- 
ciples of budding apd of grafting. I came pre- 
pared to explain both of these processes tp/the 
eye as well as to the ear, but fear that ^ 5^l|ioul4 
