CHE REFERENCE LIBRARY - ZetaTalk

100 THE N lJRSER Y-MA N IJA I,stocks or underground stems can be made into cuttings, asexplained under division, in Chapter III ; but true root-cuttings possess no buds whatever,the buds developing after thecut,ting is planted.Roots are usually cut into piecesberry (s i).1 to 3 inches long, and are plantedhorizontally in soil or moss. Thesecuttings thrive best with bottom heat, but blackberries andsome other plants grow fairly well with ordinary outdoortreatment. A root-cutting of the blackberry is shown inFig. 103. A growing dracena root-cutting is illustrated inFig. 10-L The cuttings of this plant are handled in a propagating-frameor on a c*utting-bench in a warm greenhouse. Thebouvardias and many &her plants are grown similarly fromroot-cuttings. Many of the fruit-trees, a,s peach, cherry,apple and pear, can 1~ grown readily from short root-cuttingsin a frame. *-hllC)llgkitchen-garden plants, thehorse-radish is the mostfamiliar esanlple of propagationby root-cuttings.The small side roots, +inch or so in diameter,are rc~ov~l w1~e11 thehorse-radish is dug in fallor spring, and tire cut into4 to G-inch length as seenin Fig. 105. These cut-tings are knowi as ” sets”among gardeners. WhenFIG. 104. Root-cutting of dracena.the cro&s of rhubarba,re cut and used for propagation, the operation falls strictlyunder division, from the fact that buds or eyes are present ;