PROPAGATING PLANTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1382, 25 May 1878, Page 17

PROPAGATING PLANTS.

There are many plants which ripen seeds very rarely, or not at all, or if ■owed the seeds would be a long while in growing large enough to flower 1 , so these are raised by taking a piece of the plant and putting it in the earth to take root ; the old way was to pull or slip off a little branch, and the piece was called, and sometimes is now, " a slip." But that is

a slow and wasteful way, and now gardeners cut oft the right kind of piaoes and oall them cuttings. A great many plants are raised from cuttings, some florists turning out hundreds of thousands every year ; there is no secret about it, and with the common plants, boys and girls can do this as well as the florists. You have, no doubt, raised plants from seeds; in most seeds you cau see a little bit of stem and one or two leaves; whentho seed iapufc in theground, this little plant, often bent up by being packed away so closely, straightens itself out, and very soon roots appear on the little Btem, aud the plant which began to grow before it had any roots, grows all the fastor with them, for you of course know that one use of roots is to feed the plant ; they take up the water in which much of the plant's food is dissolred, and give it something to grow with. Seeds have inside of them some food for the plants to use until they have roots and can feed themselves. Now, in a cutting, we tako off a piece of a stem, and in the first place let us examine a stem and see what we have to deal with. Here, figure 1, is a cutting of a Fuchsia. You see it has a stem and leaves ; there are foui good sized leaves, and at the very top two just growing, and if you examine the living plant, you would see a little point or knob between these from which more leaves will come, and as these leaves enlarge, a bit of stem grows too, to lift them abov« the older leaves ; the stem keopa growing longer, and more leaf oh unfold. This growing point at tlio et>cl of tho et«m is the terminal bud, You will see that

where the lower leaves join the item, there are other buds (only one of them shows in the engraving), these buds are called axillary buds, as they are placed in the axilla,. or armpit, where the leaf is fastened to the stem. When these buds grow they form branches just like the on*

from which they start. While plants »r« growing their buds are not so plainly seen as when at rest. If you look at the trees and shrubs that drop their leaves in the fall, you can see the buds very plainly. Eigure 2 is the stem of a horse chesnut ; you see at the top a very large bud, which is ready to grow in spring, and though the leaves have fallen, you see the scars or marks where they were, and just above them the axillary buds. In making a cutting we must have a stem and one or more buds, we have taken this away from the plant, and the first thing it needs is roots, so we set it out in the earth where we hope it will make them. The little pl&nt in the seed has food provided to help it to form roots ; the cutting has in ita item and leaves food that would hare been used to make more leaves, but it now uses it to

make roots. Most cuttings when put into the soil make first a whitish bunch at the bottom, sometimes large, as in figure 3, and often much smaller ; this is thought to be matter gathered there to feed the roots, which will soon start near by. This bunch the gardeners call a callus. After the roots begin to grow, then the buds on the stem of the cutting start, and we have a plant able to take care of itself. Several kinds of cuttings are made; there art those taken when the plant is not growing, but the leaves have fallen and the plant quite at rest. Grape-vines and ourrant bushes are grown from cuttings of this way. But you will be likely to make cuttings with the leaves on. Florists manage their roses in a way that you cannot, and they make a plant from every bud as in figure 3 ; you will need to take longer cuttings, as in figure 4, which have several leaves with a bud to each. For homeblooming roses, when you can find new shoots that have made buds at the place where the leaves join the stem, that is the best time to make cuttings ; if the cutting has three leaves, cut off the lower one, and put the stem into the soil up to the second leaf. Unless the soil is very sandy, use pure sand in the pot, putting something in the hole to keep it from running out. The cuttings are put in, the sand well pressed down and kept moist, and while tho cuttings must have light, they should not be put in the direct sun. You can treat all kinds of geraniums, f uschias, and many others in this way ; if you try carnations, you must keep them very cool and give them a long time. As soon as any roots have grown, the cuttings should then be put into good soil. Some cuttings will root well in common earth, but those with soft stems are apt to rot, and good clean sand is better.

Frenchwomen laugh at the simple coiffure, now so universal in England, nor does Mrs Haweis approve. In her " Art of Beauty " she, like Ovid, recommends a looser mode of arrangement.

Historical I—Vide1 — Vide "Jurors' Reports and Awards, New Zealand Exhibition." Jurors : J. E. Ewen, J. Butterworth, T. O. Skinner; "So far as the Jolony ia concerned, the dyeing of materials is almost entirely confined to the re-dyeing of Articles of Dress and Upholstery, a most useful art, for thert are many kinds of material that lose their colour bofore the texture is half worn. G, Hirsch, of Dunedin (Dunedin Dye Wobks, George street, opposite Royal George Hotel), exhibits a case of specimens of dyed Wools. Silks, and Feathers, and dyed Sheepskins. The colours on the whole aie very fair, and reflect considerable credit on the Exhibitor, to whom tho Jurorß recommended an Honorary Certificates, 689 : Guntav Hirsch, Donedin, for Specimen of Dyeing in Silk, Feathers, &c.