AN IMPROVED METHOD OF STRIKING CUTTINGS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 932, 23 October 1879, Page 2

AN IMPROVED METHOD OF STRIKING CUTTINGS.

A shout notice has appeared m a St. Petersburg journal, says Mr. Henslow m tile 1/ohdon ClvronicUf of my paper on the absorption of water by the green parts of plantß ; and it appears to have suggested to Mr. G. Weidenberg a method of striking cuttings. After^^ inferring that the frequent fading -ojfl| cuttings before they have struck roo^^ may be accounted for by a too great transpiration, he proposes making the cuttings longer than usual, and burying some of the leaves as well as the stalk, so that about a third remains out of the earth. Those leaves m the ground may thus undertake the function of absorbing moisture, and so help to balance the loss of water from the exposed leaves. The ground, he adds, m which cuttings stand should be if possible, porous, m order that the air may have access, and that the rot* ting of the leaves may be prevented. This process enables the cutting to make roots before the leaves decay. Weidenberg appears to have found, that K»es of all 86rts, pinka, and other cuttings of plants thus make very good roots, which are usually hard to growIn my paper I only, alluded to flowers having leaves attached to the stalk and plunged into water, but the principal is the same as for striking cuttings, and it is so easy to try that gardeners can | readily put it to the test and see if their results will accord with Weidenberg's experience. .