CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - Pole Shift Survival Information

grape cuttings are sometimes pa&ed between layers of sand
in a barrel, aurl the barrel is set uucler 21. for&g-house bench
where the teuiperiitur~~ is about 50”. Ei&t or ten inches of
sand is usually placed over the top layer. Iii this wa,y, cuttings
taken in winter or early spring may be callused before
.
planting time.
It is a singular fat% that. the lower ~cl of the cutt,ing, as it
stood 011 t,he parent, plnut, produC~t~s roots, and the upper end
produces leaves and shoots, evru if the cut.ting is inverted.
And if the cut,ting is divided iut,o several parts, each part will
still exhibit this dif!‘erentiation of fun&on. This is true even
of root-cuttings, and of other cuttings that. bear no buds. The
reasons for this localization of function are not clearly understood,
alt.hough the phenomenon has often been the subject
of study. On this fact. probably depends the hastening of
the rooting process iu inverted cuftiugs by the direct application
of heat to the bottoms (page ST), md it likewise indicates
that care must be taken to plant cuttiugs in approximately
their natural directiou if straight and handsome plants
are desired. This remark applies particularly to horseradish
“ sets,” for if these are placed wrong end up (even
though they are root-cut,tings), the resulting root will be very
crooked.
The particular method of making the cutting, and the treatment
to which it should be subjected, to cause it to strike
readily, must be determined for each species or genus, Some
plants, as many maples, can be propagated from wood two or
three years old, but in most cases the wood of the previous or
present season’s growth is required. Kearly all soft and loosewooded
plants grow readily from hardwood cuttings, while
those with dense wood are generally multiplied more easily
from soft or growing wood. Some plants, as oaks and nuttrees,
are propagated from cuttings of any description only
with difIiculty, although the hickories grow rather freely from