Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

A cutting of the CHINA ROSE (Rosa indica) prepared for putting
into the ground.

Slips.—When cuttings are made of the shoots from the root or collar of the plant, or of little branches stripped off with a small portion of the root or stem attached, they are called slips; and they require no other preparation than cutting off the portion of bark smooth and close to the shoot. Slips are generally taken off in March, but they will also succeed if made in autumn. Cuttings of succulent plants, such as of the different kinds of cacti, require to be dried for some time after they are made, by placing them on a shelf in the sun. This is done to prevent a waste of the returning sap; which, in plants of this kind, is very abundant, and in a very liquid state.

A piping of a Carnation.

Pipings are cuttings of pinks and carnations, and indeed are applicable to all plants having jointed tubular stems. They are prepared by taking a shoot that has nearly done growing, and holding the root end of it in one hand, below a pair of leaves, and with the other pulling the top part above the pair of leaves, so as to separate it from the root-part of the stem at the socket formed by the axils of the leaves, leaving the part of the stem pulled off with a tubular or pipe-like termination. Hence the name of pipings; and when thus separated, they are inserted in finely sifted earth or sand, and a hand-glass is fixed firmly over them. Most florists cut off the tips of the leaves of pipings, but others plant them entire; and the pipings grow apparently equally well under both modes of treatment.

The principal points to be attended to making cuttings are, to cut off the shoot at a joint, without bruising the stem; to make the cutting at a time when the sap is in motion; to fix the end which is to send out roots, firmly in the soil; to keep it in an equal temperature both as regards heat and moisture; to cut off part of the leaves, and to shade the whole, so as to prevent too much evaporation, without excluding the light, which is wanted to stimulate the plant; to keep the soil moist, but not too damp; and to pot off the young plants as soon as they begin to grow.

Budding has been compared to sowing a seed; but it may rather be considered as making a cutting with a single eye, and inserting it in another tree, called the stock, instead of in the ground. A young shoot of the current year’s wood is cut off in the latter end of July or August, or perhaps, if the season should be very moist, the first week in September; and incisions are made longitudinally and across, on each side, above and below a bud, so that the bud may be cut out, attached to an oblong piece of wood and bark, pointed at the lower end. The leaf is then taken off, but the footstalk is left on.

The next thing is to separate the bark with the bud attached from the wood; and on the nicety of this operation much depends, as if any wood be left in the bark the bud will not take; generally, however, if the sap is in a proper state of movement, the wood comes out easily, without leaving the smallest particle behind. The bud must be then examined below, that is, on the side that was next the wood; and if it appears fresh and firm it is likely to take, but if it looks shrunk and withered it had better be thrown away, as it will never grow. Slits longitudinal and across are then made in a shoot of the stock, generally near the fork of a branch; and the bark is gently raised by the handle of the budding knife, which is purposely made thin and flat, while the piece of bark to which the bud is attached is slipped into the opening, and the bark of the stock closed over it. This is an operation that requires the greatest nicety and exactness; as unless the inner bark of the bud fits quite closely to the soft wood of the stock, it is in vain to hope that it will take. The operation is then completed by binding the two parts together with a strand or strip of bast mat, which in the case of rose trees is quite sufficient; but buds on apple and pear trees are sometimes wrapped round with wet moss, which is tied on by shreds of bast matting. In all cases, the strips of bast should be left long enough to be tied with bows and ends, that the ligature may be loosened and tied again without deranging the position of the bud as soon as it begins to grow. The first sign of the bud having taken, as it is called, is when the petiole of the leaf (that was left on when the leaf itself was cut off,) drops, on being very slightly touched with the finger; but the ligature should not be loosened till the bud begins to throw out leaves; and then it should be re-tied only a little slacker than before, until the bud is firmly united with the stock.

Mode of budding a Rose-tree.