Fig. 168.—Budding. The “bud”; the opening to receive it; the bud tied.
Suggestions.—128. Name the plants that the gardener propagates by means of cuttings. 129. By means of grafts. 130. The cutting-box may be set in the window. If the box does not receive direct sunlight, it may be covered with a pane of glass to prevent evaporation. Take care that the air is not kept too close, else the damping-off fungi may attack the cuttings, and they will rot at the surface of the ground. See that the pane is raised a little at one end to afford ventilation; and if the water collects in drops on the under side of the glass, remove the pane for a time. 131. Grafting wax is made of beeswax, resin, and tallow. A good recipe is one part (as one pound) of rendered tallow, two parts of beeswax, four parts of resin; melt together in a kettle; pour the liquid into a pail or tub of water to solidify it; work with the hands until it has the colour and “grain” of taffy candy, the hands being greased when necessary. The wax will keep any length of time. For the little grafting that any pupil would do, it is better to buy the wax of a seedsman. 132. Grafting is hardly to be recommended as a general school diversion, as the making of cuttings is; and the account of it in this chapter is inserted chiefly to satisfy the general curiosity on the subject. 133. In Chap. V we had a definition of a plant generation: what is “one generation” of a grafted fruit tree, as Le Conte pear, Baldwin, or Ben Davis apple? 134. The Elberta peach originated about 1880: what is meant by “originated”? 135. How is the grape propagated so as to come true to name (explain what is meant by “coming true”)? currant? strawberry? raspberry? blackberry? peach? pear? orange? fig? plum? cherry? apple? chestnut? pecan?
CHAPTER XVII
HOW PLANTS CLIMB
We have found that plants struggle or contend for a place in which to live. Some of them become adapted to grow in the forest shade, others to grow on other plants, as epiphytes, others to climb to the light. Observe how woods grapes, and other forest climbers, spread their foliage on the very top of the forest tree, while their long flexile trunks may be bare.
There are several ways by which plants climb, but most climbers may be classified into four groups: (1) scramblers, (2) root climbers, (3) tendril climbers, (4) twiners.
Scramblers.—Some plants rise to light and air by resting their long and weak stems on the tops of bushes and quick-growing herbs. Their stems may be elevated in part by the growing twigs of the plants on which they recline. Such plants are scramblers. Usually they are provided with prickles or bristles. In most weedy swamp thickets, scrambling plants may be found. Briers, some roses, bed-straw or galium, bittersweet (Solanum Dulcamara, not the Celastrus) the tear-thumb polygonums, and other plants are familiar examples of scramblers.
Root Climbers.—Some plants climb by means of true roots. These roots seek the dark places and therefore enter the chinks in walls and bark. The trumpet creeper is a familiar example (Fig. [36]). The true or English ivy, which is often grown to cover buildings, is another instance. Still another is the poison ivy. Roots are distinguished from stem tendrils by their irregular or indefinite position as well as by their mode of growth.
Fig. 169.—Tendril, to show where the coil is changed.