270 
STEMS 
14. What is oakum? In what industry is it used? 
15. Why is excelsior a good material for packing fragile articles? 
16. Into which of your garments does linen enter? 
17. What is jute? manila? burlap? 
18. How many trees do you know? Which do you like best? 
Why? 
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS —STEMS AS A MEANS OF 
PROPAGATING PLANTS 
“ Slipping ” plants is a common practice, the success of 
which is due to the fact that adventitious roots grow readily 
from the cut end of a 
branch of geranium, bal¬ 
sam, ivy, and other 
plants. Two advantages 
make slipping popular: 
(1) the certainty of secur¬ 
ing a new plant like the 
parent plant, (2) the short 
time required to produce 
blooms compared with 
the same kind of plant 
raised from the seed. 
Willow twigs root so 
readily that it is often 
possible to start a hedge 
by sticking pieces of 
branches into the ground 
when it is very wet. 
Grafting is a common 
method of propagating 
trees. It depends for 
success upon putting the 
cambium layer of a twig from one plant against the cam¬ 
bium of another and fastening it there until the two layers 
have grown together, protecting it from moisture, insects, and 
Figure 258. — Cleft Grafting. 
In 1, the twigs or scions have been cut 
obliquely to expose the cambium. In 2, 
a branch of the stock has been split to re¬ 
ceive the scions. In 3, the scions have 
been inserted into the stock, cambium 
against cambium. (The outer part of the 
branch is represented as having been re¬ 
moved.) In 4, the wax has been applied. 
