Fig. 2.—ONE-EYE CUTTINGS OF THE GRAPE.
There are various methods of preparing the single-eye cuttings, some of which are represented in fig. 2.
Among our cultivated fruits there is but a limited number that need to be propagated by cuttings, though, where it becomes necessary, many of them may be grown in this manner, to which procedure there are no serious objections, though there are some of a theoretical nature. The currant and the gooseberry are increased almost exclusively from cuttings, they strike root very readily, and are multiplied to any extent; their seeds are sown only to produce new varieties. The grape is propagated very extensively by cuttings; the slips are often planted in the field and in the stations where the vines are wanted for the vineyard; but some varieties are so unsatisfactory in their results, that other more elaborate and scientific means must be taken for their propagation. Among the larger fruits, those constituting our trees, we do not depend upon cuttings, except in the quince, which is not only grown for its fruit, but is also largely produced as a stock for the dwarfed pear, and is extensively propagated from cuttings. The Paradise apple, a dwarf stock, is multiplied in the same way. Pears and apples may be grown from cuttings, but this plan is not pursued with them to any extent. Those that are root-grafted, or budded very low, especially the pear on quince stocks, will often produce roots if favorably situated, but there is a great difference in varieties, some rarely produce a root, while others are very prone to do it; from observations of this fact, a new phase of dwarf-pear culture has been inaugurated.
Suckers.—One of the simplest methods of multiplying varieties consists of increasing and encouraging the suckers thrown up by the roots; these are separated and set out for trees. We have been told by some physiologists that there was an absolute difference in structure between the root and the stem, that they could not be substituted the one for the other; and yet the oft quoted marvel of the tree which was planted upside down, and which produced flowers and leaves from its roots, while its branches emitted fibres, and became true roots, is familiar to every one. Here, as in other cases, our teachers have led us into error by attempting to trace analogy with animal anatomy and physiology, and by directing our attention to the circulation of plants, as though they, like the higher animals, possessed true arterial and venous currents of circulating fluids. The cell circulation is quite a different affair, and can be conducted in either direction, as every gardener knows who has ever layered a plant, or set a cutting upside down. So with the roots—they are but downward extensions of the stem; under ordinary circumstances they have no need for buds, but these may be, and often are developed, when the necessity for their presence arises. Buds do exist on roots, especially upon those that are horizontal and near the surface, and from them freely spring suckers, which are as much parts of the parent tree as its branches, and may be planted with entire certainty of obtaining the same fruit, just as the twigs when used as cuttings, or scions, when grafted, will produce similar results.
Whole orchards are planted, in some sections of the country, with the suckers from old trees; apples, pears, plums, and even peaches, as well as raspberries and blackberries, are multiplied in this primitive way. There are some varieties of apples that have been so propagated for half a century, and extended for hundreds of miles in this way by the pioneer emigrants, without ever having been grafted, until their merits have at length accidentally become known to the Pomological Societies and nurserymen, when the propagation of them by grafting soon supercedes the more primitive method. Sucker trees are objected to upon the grounds that they are not healthy and thrifty, that they do not have good roots. Inherent disease of the parent tree will of course be transmitted with its other peculiarities, but I cannot imagine that this would be any more likely to occur in a sucker than in a layer, or cutting, or graft. As to the roots, they may be more developed upon one side than another in the young tree, and this state of things may continue in the adult; we often observe the same condition in the stumps of the monarchs of our forests, which were never suspected in the day of their glory and pride of having such a fault. But such a condition of roots is not essential to the sucker, which may be made to have as fine a system of lateral roots, and as evenly and regularly distributed as those of a seedling tree. Another objection to this mode of propagation has much truth and some force; that is, that suckers are very apt to produce suckers again. This is particularly the case with the Morello cherry, which is a favorite stock, upon which to work many of the choice varieties. As an offset to this it may be urged, that the small fibrous roots, which are supposed to conduce to early fruitfulness, abound in trees propagated by this means, and this may be the reason why the fruit trees that have been thus multiplied, are very generally remarkable for their precocious fruiting. Some of the apples that have been long increased in this manner, bear so early, and so bountifully, as to prevent them from ever forming very large trees; they often have a stunted appearance, and not infrequently present a peculiar inequality upon the bark, portions being swollen or enlarged like warts—from which, in some cases, it is easy to force out shoots or sprouts; they are indeed true gemmules like those of the old olive trees, and like them might be used for the propagation of the variety; a similar condition, no doubt, exists in the roots, whence the tendency to sucker. The common Morello cherry; the Damson; the Chickasas, and other varieties of plum; the blackberry, and many raspberries, are multiplied almost exclusively in a similar manner.
Layers are portions of the branches of a plant that have been induced to throw out roots, and which can thus set up an independent existence if removed from the parent tree. This mode of propagation is a very natural one, and was probably an accidental discovery. In its traits, it is the reverse of the mode we have just been considering. Here the branch emits roots, instead of the root emitting branches, as in the case of the sucker. Layering is frequently resorted to as a mode of propagation, it is very simple, easily performed, and, with some species, very certain in its results. Some plants will root readily if merely placed in contact with the ground, or very slightly covered with soil; others require some artificial interference, such as ringing, or twisting, or slitting. The raspberry, known as the Rubus occidentalis or Black-cap, belongs to the first class, and it even places itself in contact with the soil by recurving its branches so as to bring the tips to the earth, where they strike root, and make new plants. The grape comes under the second category, needing only a little assistance, and it is multiplied to a considerable extent in this manner. In the spring, the vines are laid out in a little shallow trench, and pegged down closely; as the buds burst, they throw up shoots which are trained vertically by tying them to sticks, and as soon as these shoots have acquired a certain degree of maturity and firmness, the mellow earth is drawn up to them and