CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - ZetaTalk

grape cuttings are sometimes pa&ed between layers of sandin a barrel, aurl the barrel is set uucler 21. for&g-house benchwhere the teuiperiitur~~ is about 50”. Ei&t or ten inches ofsand is usually placed over the top layer. Iii this wa,y, cuttingstaken 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 itstood 011 t,he parent, plnut, produC~t~s roots, and the upper endproduces leaves and shoots, evru if the cut.ting is inverted.And if the cut,ting is divided iut,o several parts, each part willstill exhibit this dif!‘erentiation of fun&on. This is true evenof root-cuttings, and of other cuttings that. bear no buds. Thereasons for this localization of function are not clearly understood,alt.hough the phenomenon has often been the subjectof study. On this fact. probably depends the hastening ofthe rooting process iu inverted cuftiugs by the direct applicationof heat to the bottoms (page ST), md it likewise indicatesthat care must be taken to plant cuttiugs in approximatelytheir natural directiou if straight and handsome plantsare desired. This remark applies particularly to horseradish“ sets,” for if these are placed wrong end up (eventhough they are root-cut,tings), the resulting root will be verycrooked.The particular method of making the cutting, and the treatmentto which it should be subjected, to cause it to strikereadily, must be determined for each species or genus, Someplants, as many maples, can be propagated from wood two orthree years old, but in most cases the wood of the previous orpresent season’s growth is required. Kearly all soft and loosewoodedplants grow readily from hardwood cuttings, whilethose with dense wood are generally multiplied more easilyfrom soft or growing wood. Some plants, as oaks and nuttrees,are propagated from cuttings of any description onlywith difIiculty, although the hickories grow rather freely from