1862.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
19 
Propagating Plants from Cuttings— 
Valuable Suggestions. 
[This subject is daily becoming of more importance to 
all classes. A laigc number of plants are best propagat¬ 
ed from slips or cuttings, while many improved varieties 
can only thus be propagated in purity. Every, person 
who grows a tree or shrub, should understand, if he do 
not practice propagation.—At a recent conversational 
meeting of the Brooklyn Horticultural Society this sub¬ 
ject was discussed at length. The remarks of Mr. A. S. 
Fuller were so valuable, and of such general applica¬ 
tion, that we requested a transcript of them for the Agri¬ 
culturist. Mr. Fuller held, that to enlighten the general 
public on the processes of good nurserymen, as well as the 
“ tricks » of dishonest ones, would, in the end,' benefit reli¬ 
able dealers, by preparing purchasers to appreciate well 
grown plants. We omit, for want of room, the first por¬ 
tion of the remarks.— Ed.] 
In propagating plants from cuttings we should 
hear in mind that there are other desirable ob¬ 
jects besides the one of increasing the number. 
One of the most important is, to increase the 
vigor of the plant so that it shall produce bet¬ 
ter fruit or flowers, if possible, than its parent. 
This can only be done by a proper selection of 
the cutting, and a continued watchfulness from 
the start, never allowing the plant to become 
stunted at any period of its growth. One of the 
conditions of success is a proper selection and 
preparation of the soil; one of a sandy nature, 
moderately rich, is, perhaps, the best adapted 
for almost every description of cuttings. Where 
the soil is tenacious, sand should be applied in 
quantities sufficient to make it porous enough 
to allow the water to pass through it readily. 
And further, the soil should be pulverized at 
least eighteen inches deep;—not that a great va¬ 
riety of plants will not grow from cuttings with¬ 
out doing this, but they will succeed better if the 
soil is thoroughly and deeply manipulated. 
Instead of mulching the cutting during the 
Summer for the purpose of keeping the soil 
moist, as sometimes recommended, we prefer 
stirring the surface of the soil with hoe or rake, 
at least once a week, or oftener if possible. This 
allows the air to penetrate the soil, carrying 
with it the moisture which is always present. 
From the many experiments which we have 
tried, we have uniformly met with better suc¬ 
cess when this plan was followed than when 
any kind of mulching was used. 
The best time to make cuttings is in the Fall as 
soon as the wood is ripened. At this time a 
portion of the sap is in a semi-liquid state, and 
is descending, solidifying as it passes along, and 
depositing the last layer of woody fiber of the 
season. When a cutting, is properly treated, 
this woody fiber or alburnum slowly grows from 
the end of the cutting, and forms the callus, 
which in its turn changes to roots. If the cut¬ 
tings are not taken off 1 until they have been ex¬ 
posed to severe cold, all the alburnum has be¬ 
come hardened fiber, and then it becomes nec¬ 
essary for us to place the cuttings in a position 
where warmth and moisture will again partially 
liquify this before a callosity will form. As it 
takes more or less time, according to circum¬ 
stances, for it to change a portion of its struc¬ 
ture so as to form roots, it is better to give it 
plenty of time than force it, as we sometimes do. 
There is another advantage in making cut¬ 
tings in the Fall, which is, that we can have 
them rooted by the time vegetation starts in the 
Spring. It is a well known fact that roots will 
form at a much lower degree of temperature 
than leaves, therefore if cuttings are placed in 
the ground-in the Fall, and its temperature kept 
a little above the freezing point, roots will be 
produced while the leaves will remain dormant. 
When the rise of the temperature commences 
in the Spring, these cuttings throw out roots (if 
they have not already done so) more readily than 
if but recently made; for the change has been 
gradually going on in transforming branches to 
roots, although to the eye it may not-be appa¬ 
rent. Again, plants that are exposed to severe 
cold, lose much of their vitality, and, as before 
stated, the alburnum from which the roots spring 
becomes so hard that it emits roots very slowly, 
if at all; and sometimes we are compelled to put 
the cuttings for a time in water, as is often done 
with grape cuttings. This softens • the albur¬ 
num again, which is necessary to form roots. 
Sometimes it is pot convenient to plant cut¬ 
tings in the Fall, as the soil may not be prepared; 
in that case they may be tied up in small bun¬ 
dles and buried in the earth—either in' the cel¬ 
lar or in some dry place in the garden. But it 
is better, as a general thing, to plant them in 
the Fall, and then cover sufficiently to keep out 
the frost, as with some varieties, like the quince, 
which emits roots from every portion of the 
bark, it is much better to place them where the 
soil can come in contact with every portion of 
the surface, thereby softening the outer bark 
and allowing the roots to protrude. With those 
varieties of plants which emit roots mostly from 
the severed part—or at the buds, it will make 
little difference whether the whole surface 
comes in contact with the soil during Winter, or 
only the lower ends; the latter will be the case, 
if carefully buried in bundles. 
The first cuttings made in the Fall are gener¬ 
ally from the currant, as it ripens its wood, in 
this latitude, by the middle of September; and 
as soon as ripe, the cuttings should be made. 
Take good, strong wood of the present season, 
and make the cuttings about six inches long, 
cutting them off smooth just at the base of a 
bud, square across. If you wish to prevent them 
from throwing up sprouts from under ground, 
Cut out every eye or bud, excepting two or three 
at the upper end. Now draw a line across the 
bed which is to receive the cuttings, place the 
back of the spade to the line, press it into the 
soil nearly perpendicularly to the depth of six 
inches, and throw out the soil, making a trench 
in the shape of the letter V. Set the cuttings 
two inches apart along in this trench, with the 
upper end even with the surface, as the soil will 
settle enough during the Winter to expose the 
upper buds; put in a little soil, say enough to 
cover the base of the cutting one inch; then with 
the handle of tfre spade or a piece of plank press 
the soil firmly down to the base of the cuttings. 
The object of this is to exclude the air from the 
recently severed part and furnish it with a sup¬ 
ply of moisture. Not that the cutting takes up 
any considerable quantity of water, yet it is nec¬ 
essary that this portion of the cutting should not 
become chy, for then a vacuum occurs, which 
will be filled with water and cause it to decay. 
Currant cuttings planted early often become 
rooted by the time Winter sets in, without mak¬ 
ing any leaves; and they will make twice as 
much growth the next season as they will if 
their planting is deferred until Spring. « 
Cuttings can be made of most kinds of shrub- 
berry as soon as the wood is ripened and the 
leaves can be taken off without injury to the 
buds adjacent, and planted in the same manner 
as described for currants. Gooseberries may al¬ 
so be treated in the same way. 
All the varieties of synnga, althea, Wiegelia, 
deutzia, viburnum or snowball, Forsythia, hon¬ 
eysuckle, spiraea, climbing, Bourbon, and hybrid 
perpetual roses grow readily if cut before frozen. 
In growing quinces from cuttings, one, two or 
three year olci wood may be used; and we have 
found it extremely advantageous to pack the 
soil very firmly about the base of the cuttings, 
leaving it loose below the cutting and at the sur¬ 
face. Having grown many hundred thousands, 
we have always found our success (other things 
being equal) just in proportion to the care taken 
in making the soil firm about the base of the 
cuttings. Merely sticking them down, as is 
sometimes done, depending upon the rain to set¬ 
tle the soil, generally proves a total failure. 
The method ordinarily pursued in making 
grape-cuttings, is to cut them into lengths of 
from one to two feet; but we think the short 
cuttings are preferable. We make them about 
six inches long, or with only two buds. But 
sometimes the buds are further apart, and in 
that case we have to make the cutting loDg 
enough to include the two buds if no more. If 
the buds are so near together that two will not 
give us a cutting four to six inches long, then 
make them with more than two. The cuttings 
should be made as soon as the wood is ripe, and 
either planted immediately or “heeled in” in 
some dry place in the garden or cellar. They 
should be planted at least six inches apart in 
the row, and the rows one to two feet apart. 
Set them perpendicular, leaving the upper bud 
even with, or a little below the surface; press the 
soil firmly about them, and attend to hoeing and 
keeping the soil loose between the row% during 
the Summer. Some varieties grow more readi 
ly from cuttings than others, but we have tried 
none of which a greater part will not grow it 
they receive proper attention. 
There are some kinds of hardy plants and 
trees—like the Paulownia among trees, and the 
double flowering almond shrubs, and the rasp¬ 
berry and blackberry among small fruits—that 
do not grow from cuttings of the ripe wood, yet 
can be multiplied with great rapidity from pieces 
of the roots planted in any good rich garden soil. 
Among the many theories advanced to ex¬ 
plain why these variations occur, none are en¬ 
tirely satisfactory. Much practice becomes ex¬ 
perience, and this is our only guide to success. 
Wire Worms. 
These pests, terribly severe on some land, and 
quite unknown on others, baffle the efforts of 
the most ingenious to work their destruction. 
They abound in light, moist land, in which in¬ 
ert vegetable matter is found, and attack, as 
most of us know by experience, roots of grass, 
grain, turnips, potatoes, etc., in all ages and 
conditions. The worm is the pupa of a small 
beetle, and lives, it is said, for five years , ever 
committing its depredations before it arrives at 
maturity, and assumes the form of the perfect 
insect. A write; in the “Scottish Farmer” 
makes the following cresting statement: 
“ The late Mr. Pusey founu meu rape-cake had 
the effect of destroying large numbers of wire 
worms. He caused it to be broken into pieces 
of the size of beans, and to be sown over the 
land. The insects eat their way into the pieces 
of rape-cake, and whether from dying the death 
of gluttons, or being destroyed by its other 
qualities, he found numbers of dead wire worms 
imbedded in it.” Rape-cake is an excellent ma¬ 
nure, and may be applied at the rate of 5 to 7 
cwt. per acre. This writer also recommends 
Peruvian guano applied in the Spring, alone or 
mixed with rape-cake, as a preventive, and es¬ 
teems it of especial virtue, sowed with the seed 
of turnips and similar crops. The experiment 
may well be made to see if cotton-seed oil-cake 
will not answer the same purpose as rape-cake, 
which is difficult to obtain in this eountry. 
