Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-06-03
A Plant Lesson With 4
Few Suggestive Questions.

II HltlonS OF pants are green ana grow
Il ing. When frost and winter come many
of these plants die and are gone, but
the following spring millions more of
/! new plants arise to take the place of
II those that died. New plants come into
II being every year and every season
II Where do they all come from?
II Every summer and fall we save seed
II from the garden and field crops The
seed is held over winter and planted
4 the following spring for new crops
II Nature, likewise. saves and plants
Il seed All plants, however, do not come
II into heing from seed Onions, potatoes,
n strawberries, cannas, gladieli, lilies and
Il dozens of other cultivated plants are
II usually started from buds and not
II seeds, although the parent plants bear
Il seeds. New Irish potato vines start
Il from the eyes" of potato tubers, and
Il these eyes are nothing but buds The
II dahlia tuber has crown buds, from
i which new dahlia plants arise The
Il onion and lily bulbs are nothing but
il large buds, and from these new buds
/ new onion and lily plants grow
/ Strawberry plants, taken up from the
! old strawberry field to plant a new field
or bed grew from buds on runners.
i The parent strawberry plant sends out
i runners in all directions. These run
i ners are jeinted AT each Joint are
i buds, giving rise TO leaves Just below
Il the clump of leaves, where the swollen
Il Joint of the runner touches the ground,
/ roots grow down. This is a new straw
i berry plant. The runner may be cut
off on either side of the joint and the
II plant becomes separate Individual
with the power to grow, blossom, bear
Il fruit and send out runners to form
more strawberry plants.
II Grape vines and many other vines
have a similar habit of running along
on the ground and taking root where q
H joint touches the ground The May
apple or wild mandrake makes growth
and new plants by means of buds on a
large underground stem. This stem al
i ways grows just beneath the soil. 1t
pushes continually ahead with a new
bud each season at the end. which
grows forward, as well as buds along
the sides of the. stem for new branches
to grow out in all directions Many of
our grasses, both wildtand tame, pro-
duce new plants by means of buds on
underground stems. When a meadow
or pasture is ploughed up the large.
white roots seen are not roots in the
stems II these are examined they will
be found to be jointed and bearing
buds Roots and stems grow from
them. Ploughing up pasture will not
kill out all the grasses, as the under
| ground stems with their live buds are
simply replanted. Cutting them to
pieces only multiplies them Hundreds
of other plants, which we commonly
a call weeds are hard to kill out because
the underground parts bear buds for
producing new plants
, Almost all of our choice fruit trees
have been grown from buds. If apple
, or peach seeds were planted they
would give apple and peach trees we
call seedlings A winesap apple seed
will not produce a tree which will bear
winesap apples. Neither i'll an Elherta
peach seed produce a peach tree that
| will bear liberia peaches. Fruit tree
| seeds will not produce fruit trees true
; to named varieties" That is, the trees
from seeds will bear fruit of an infer1-
Tor kind For this reason when fruit
trees of a given variety arew anted the
Inurseryman takes cions or small cut
. tings from chosen varieties and buds
or CRAFTS them on common seeding
lstock. The bud always bears fruit true
, | to name The same habit holds true
| with Towering ornamental plants.
IDahlia seed, for instance, will grow
dahlias Of all sizes, shapes and coiors
II of blossoms true to name. The reason
III for this is that the plants are produc-
II ed from buds on the tubers.
III MANY of our garden and ornamental
J plants are produced from what are
Icalled root divisions. Rhubarb. golden
glow and peonies are examples. With
these plants that die down to the
ground every fall the parts that remain
alive in the ground over winter are
| part roots and part stems. The top
| part consists of short feshy stems
, and on these stems several buds form
| at the end Of the growing season. IN
the spring or fall these clumps may ne
divided into as many different parts
as there are buds at the crown. Thesc
divisions may then be set out III new
| ground for the starting OF new piahts'
Always in dividing such clumps be sure
that each division contains crown
bud, for from bud only VIII q ne"
plant start in such cases. III latuio =
and in handling by man. great many
| plants are started from buds
There is also another way to start.
L
cut off a willow twig and stuck 1t into
soft. wet ground along brook or the
margin of the farm pond. If placed IN
Ii wet situation, this willow twig Will
remain green and WILL after a FEW
weeks. start to grow to form new will
Iow tree or hush. It has taken root IN
the new soil to grow. II you VIII pun
the willow twig up after it has peen
planted for few weeks. you VIII ma
the new roots They will he growing at
lthe lower or cut end and at or near "a
jnortion of the stem where but arises.
In horticulture, gardening and ruit cni-
lture many new plants are started
Erom cuttings.
The way to start plants from cut
tinrs is to make the cuttings from new,
q but rather well-ripened wood. Cut the
new twig off closely and smoothly pc
-j,ow a bud. Place the cutting In moist
j sand or soil and shield it from the sun
flor a week or two. First the end OF
1.-THE cutting will callous over; then in
lshort time young roots will begin to