The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-05-22


Treatment of Cuttings.
Soil has very little to do with our success,
though some think il of first importance 1t
should. however, be light and porous and as
sand admits air most readily, it is considered
best for cuttings. They may be taken from
the stem. branch or root, and are really
gratis, and by being placed in the earth, a
medium favorable 10 the production of roofs,
these emit, instead of aiding the stock to eff
for their union to it had they been grated.
A certain degree of moisture in the
soil is absolutely required, for if a
cutting once gets wilted it juices
are expended and its vitality lost.
To avoid this willing or tagging
of the cutting, every means that will
suggest itself to the propagation is to be used.
Some give air and shade, though / am aware
this is not very common with some profess
SIGNALS, as they contend that at all times the
house or propagating rooms should be kept
close; while others aver that having tried
both methods, and that extensively, they
are satisfied beyond all question that venti-
lating and propagating at low temperature
are capable of producing a larger quantity
of stock than at high temperature and in
a close atmosphere. There need be no fail
producing healthy stock. circulation of
air also tends to prevent the termination of
that spider web like substance called the
fungi, or torment of the amateur as
well as the professional; and all know
how baneful the effects and that in
one night all may be swept away by it. To
avoid this we must make every effort to
shade, air, and regulate the heat, that the
atmosphere of the house shall not exceed go
degrees. OF course this is when your propa
eating is finished by the middle of May.
The time required to root cuttings varies
from five to 20 days, according to the variety,
condition OF the cutting and temperature.
A cutting produces roots either from bud
or eye, or from callus resembling pro-
tuberant lip, which forms from the albur-
mum between the wood and the bark round
the face of the cut which divides the slip
from the parent stem. If cutting be placed
in water 1t imbibes at first more rapidly
than root planted OF the same size, though
this power soon decreases; but If planted in
the earth it never imbibes as fast as the
rooted plant provided the soil is similarly
mcist: consequently the soil in which cut
ting is placed should be much more
moist than beneficial to a rooted
plant of the same species, and evapor-
alton from the leaves should be
checked by covering with a bell glass. The
temperature to which the leaves are exposed
should approach the lowest the plant will
endure. The warmer the soil within the
plant the more active are the roots; so de.
grees for the atmosphere and between 65 and
20 degrees for bottom heat are the most
effectual Temperatures for the generality Of
plants. The cutting should be IS short as
possible, consistently with the object in
view. Three or four leaves, or two If the
cutting is very short, is sufficient. Tney
elaborate the sap quite as fast as required,
and are not liable to exhaust the cutting by
super eXhalation of moisture. Cuttings
taken from the upper branches OF plant
flower earliest while those taken from near
the soil are said to root most freely. Those
which emit roots reluctantly may be aiaed
by ringing. The ring should be cut round
the branch few weeks before the cutting is
to be removed; the bark should be COM
pletely removed down to the wood, and the
section dividing the parent from the
cutting be made between the ring and
the parent stem as soon as a callus appears
round the upper edge of the ring. The cut
tings of orange trees and others strike with
difficulty if inserted in the center of pot,
but readily if placed in contact with its side.
The same effect is produced if the end OF the
cutting touches an under drainage of gravel
or broken pots Why is this? you question.
1t is probably because in these situations
the side and the open drainage OF the pot
the atmospheric air gains salutary access.
A light porus soil, or sand which admits air
very readily, is therefore best for cuttings,
and sois shallow pan better than flower
pot, and apparently for the same reason. l
think many perforations in the bottom of the
pan used for roofing cuttings would be
found advantageous for those which
root slowly. Some plants may be success
fully propagated by means OF the leaves;
among those whose number may be thus
increased are Cacti, Gesner;e, GloxInie,
Begonia, Peperomia, Hoya and other feshy-
= 49, e. -
say that all plants may be progagted from
leaf, and NJ. Neuman even bisected a leaf
and raised a leaf from each leaf. There are
many leaves which will send forth roots ana
grow rapidly, as in one instance a leaf of
peppermint grew largely. and assumed the
character of an evergreen tree. But the
question arises, will they produce buds?
at present the answer derived is in the
negative, for leaves from the rose, orange,
ETC., have been made to root, but they re-
fuse to produce buds One eminent writer
says they need a richer supply
of food, exposure to greater
intensity of light, and this de-
ficiency will be removed, and why not?
Buds always spring from the central vessels
of plants, and these vessels are never absent
from leaf. If liberal supply of food is
given to a we'll rooted leaf, and then cut
down to the callus from whence the roots
are emitted, buds must be produced, for the
roots have the same power. In general,
young wood strikes more readily. Some
must be quite soft and inserted in the soil
Immediately, while those of milky or gummy
plants should be buried in damp sand for "a
hours with the wound exposed, and then
thoroughly washed before planting. Herba-
ceous plants will strike in any place shaded
from the meridian sun. The safest rule for
the amateur propagating soft wooded
plants is to bend the cutting; if it breaks or
snaps, it is in the right condition If not it
is TOO hard. 1t will root In this condition,
but very slowly, and the roots viii be small'
and the plant will never be strong salts
factory one.