The propagation of plants ; giving the principles which govern the development and growth of plants, their botanical affinities and peculiar properties; also, descriptions of the process by which varieties and species are crossed or hybridized, and the many different methods by which cultivated plants may be propagated and multiplied

Front matter

ie

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Cornell University

Contents

Propagation of Plants........----.------------------------eenee - U CHAPTER II, Movement and Reorganization of Cells_-_---------.---------------- 20 CuHaPtTer III.

Origin and Kinds-of Buds---.-...----------------+.--- scessuese -- 28 CHAPTER IV.

Roots and their Functions.----..--------. 2-22-22 eae eee eee ee ee 36 CHAPTER V.

Preface

When I was a young man a plant of that grand old Rose, the Chromatella, came into my possession. Desiring to propagate it, I visited a Scotch gardener in the neighborhood and asked him to show me how Roses were budded, and was informed that propagating Roses was a “‘trade secret.” This somewhat surprised me, as ‘trade secrets”’ in gardening was a new idea to me, not having at that time been introduced to the mystic shrine of the craft. My reply to this statement was, “‘ Well, sir, if I live to be as old as you are, I will not only know your trade secrets, but make them known to all who may desire such information.” The present work is in part a fulfillment of the promise made so many years ago, and it has never been lost sight of.

While admitting that a more intimate acquaintance with horticulturists and horticultural literature has somewhat modified my earlier impressions as to the general secretiveness of the profession, especially as to the more intelligent members, yet there are many who are still very chary of giving information about the best modes of propagating the plants they cultivate, and in visiting their establishments we may see ‘‘No Admittance” over the door of the propagating house, probably placed there to more fully impress upon the minds of visitors the idea that the proprietor or his gardener is an important personage, and that behind this sign are trade secrets of vast importance and value. But it will be

Vur PROPAGATION OF PLANTS.

found not only with horticulturists, but among all learned men, that he who knows most is the most willing ana ready to give information to whomsoever may ask it. The fountains of true knowledge are inexhaustible and in practical matters it is folly to suppose that te know just how an operation should be performed will enable allto do the work equally well. One man may know how an implement should be made, and yet not possess the skill requisite to make it. It is said that poets are born, not made, but this oft-repeated aphorism is no more true of poets than of the mechanic or gardener. Long experience may enable a man to become a moderately good mechanic or propagator of plants, but never a first-class workman in either calling unless he possesses an inborn latent talent for such work that becomes developed throngh practical experience. For this reason there is not the slightest danger of the upper rooms in the temple of Hortulanus ever becoming overcrowded as the result of making known all that is possible to discovei in regard to the cultivation and propagation of plants. The present volume is a summing .up of a life ol observation, study and experiment among plants, in thé field, forest and garden, and while in a few instances I may not agree with some of our botanical authorities, still, to be true to myself and my convictions, I could not do otherwise than state what appeared to me to be facts. It has been my aim in this, as in my other works, not to mislead, but to prompt the inexperienced to think as well as act—to investigate, experiment and seek the truth wherever it is to be found, without regard to what I or other authors have said. It is a common failing among cultivators of plants to consider words equivalent to action, and theories as facts derived from actual experience. Weare all far too ready to accept theories in regard to the habits and structure of plants, instead of appealing to the plants themselves for the truth. It is so much

PREFACE, Ix more convenient to believe than to investigate and know whether a declaration is true or false, that we have comparatively few thorough and careful investigators of the phenomena of plant life.

Horticulture as a science is as yet in its nfawey, and while we know something of the botanical relationships of plants as exhibited in the floral organs and various other appendages and parts, there is yet much to be learned of their chemical and mechanical aftinities. In the hybridizing and crossing of species and varieties, and, perhaps, the intermingling of genera, there is a wide field open for investigation and experiment, from which very valuable and important results may confidently be

-expected ; and while I have devoted only a limited space to this subject, enough has probably been said to show the way in which operations should be performed.

The usual incentive to investigation is a desire to know, and a doubt often becomes a germ of knowledge and an aid to progress. In this way have emanated most of the greatest discoveries of all ages. When one has become sufficiently interested in a subject to inquire and investigate, he enters upon the true and only road to actual knowledge.

In endeavoring to explain some of the physiological laws and principles which govern the growth of plants, I have not placed implicit confidence in the statements of those who are usually considered eminent vegetable physiologists, for it appears to be a common failing with the authors of such works to state definitely that a thing is thus and so, with seldom or never an if, but, or other modifying word that would indicate it was possible for the author to be mistaken, hence the gravest errors—if we call them by no worse name—have been widely disseminated and credited as absolute facts. I have stated only what my own experience among plants has led me to believe to be facts, without presuming upon the x PROPAGATION OF PLANTS.

bounds of infallibility. The modes of propagation may not in every instance be the best known to others, but they are the best known to. the writer.

The author asks no fellow laborer to place implicit confidence in the explanations given of the principles involved in the growth or modes of propagation of plants, but merely requests that their value or worthlessness be determined by actual personal experience, leaving all preconceived theories out of the question.

There was a time in the author’s life when such a work as this would have been of great assistance, and have saved him the loss of many valuable plants; and believing that there are at this day young men just entering the horticultural field who may be benefited and derive some little assistance from this volume, it is sent forth with the hope that it will not only be kindly received, but may serve to promote the propagation and cultivation of plants.

AnpReEw S. FULLER.

Ridgewood, N. J., January, 1887.

PROPAGATION OF PLANTS.

Chapter I. Propagation Of Plants

For all practical purposes, the single individual plant-cell may be considered as the unit of vegetable organism. These minute individual cells contain a vital principle called life, which may be defined as a force, possessing an aptitude to respond to a stimulus.

It is the same in animals as in plants so long as they remain in their embryonic stages, but soon in the former energy, a condition of consciousness is delevoped. The egg of an insect, bird or other oviparcus animal is a complex living organism, but it cannot in truth be said to possess consciousness, or be aware of its own existence; still, it responds to the stimulus (heat), energy is developed, and consciousness follows in succeeding stages. Seeds of plants respond to the same stimulus, the young plantlet absorbing nutriment from surrounding elements; and while it may not be conscious of the act, it possesses an inherent vital principle which enables it to reject certair substances and select others for its own use.

But as man has not as yet been able to analyze this vital principle which we term life, or trace it—this mysterious force manifested in matter—to its source, horticulturists are compelled to confine themselves to seeking a knowledge of the best means of promoting the development and multiplication of the cells, which, in their aggregate form, compose the plants that contribute so much to the welfare and pleasure of all members of the animal kingdom, man included.

The plant-cell, however minute, is not a solid body, nor \ composed of a single element, but in structure is made up of severa] parts, and these are the result of acombination of several substances. Within the young cell we find a viscid liquid, which has received the name of protoplasm (meaning formative matter), and usually floating in this there are numerous granules, the nature of which has not been fully determined, but they are supposed to be a kind of cell-kernels or nuclei, that probably play an important part in the production of new cells. As the cell acquires age and enlarges, the protoplasm forms a gelatinous coating on the inside of the true cell membrane, or what may be considered the proper wall of the cell. This membraneous inner surface of the cell-wall is called the internal utricle by Mulder, and primordial utricle by Mohl. It is only visible in new and very young cells, and soon disappears; but, when present, may be detected under the action of a tincture of iodine, which turnsit yellow. As the cells thicken the internal utricle, also the cell-kernels or granules, become incorporated with the cell-walls. The chemical composition of the complete or mature cell is made up of three elements, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen; but in this young and immature state the protoplasm contains nitrogen, and the nitrogenous substances are known under various names, such as gluten, albumen, and other well-known products of vegetables.

Commencing with the individual cell, we find them in a vast number of plants so minute that they are invisible to the unaided eye, and their forms can only be determixed by the aid of the most powerful microscopes. But down here, at or near the unit of vegetable life, we find perfect plants that consist of only a single cell, and among the most familiar of them is the yeast plant (Yorula cerevisie) A cluster of these one-celled plants, highly magnified, is shown in figure 1.

There are different species of yeast plants, each of a different form, and all may be propagated, under proper conditions, as readily as plantsof higher orders. The Bacteria are among the most minute and obscure race of one-celled organisms, and the interest in these is increased on account of their frequent association with many of the diseases of the higher order of plants and of animals. There are hundreds and thousands of species of these minute one-celled plants, and they assume a great variety of forms; some are simple round dots floating in liquid, others in chains of cells, while some species are ornamented in the most intricate geometric patterns, while others are oval, long, or spread out in a fan-shape, as shown in the one-celled alga (Licmophora splendida), figure: 2.

While these minute one-celled plants play an important part in the development and continuation of plantlife, still their small size has, in a measure, prevented a very general acquaintance with their structure and properties, as well as making it somewhat difficult’ to

Fig. 1.—YEast CELLS.

Fig. 2.—ONE-OBLLED ALGA.

14 PROGAGATION OF PLANTS.

trace the relations of such low organisms through a multiplicity of channels up to the higher forms of plants.

S1zE AND Form oF CELLS.—The size and form of cells are infinitely varied, and, as only a comparatively small number of the known species of plants have been subjected to a careful microscopic examination, we can only gather an idea of the many forms from what we know of the few. Wood cells of different forms and sizes are shown in figure 3. The size of cells may he said to vary from */,, of an inch up to ’/,,,, of an inch in diameter, and there are probably some that are even of less size.

Not only do the cells in different kinds of plants vary greatly in size, but such variation is also found in different parts of the same plant. It is also known that the cells of a rapidly - growing, healthy plant are larger than those of one that is feeble and sickly. In form, cells vary from the

Fig. 3.—woop cELzs. simple globule of the yeast

plant in every conceiyv-

able direction, frequently assuming intricate geometrical

figures, the ellipsoidal apparently springing from the

spherical; following upward we find the cube, prismatic,

hexagonal, stellate, fusiform, and branching cells. The

spherical, oval and elliptical are most common in fungi

and herbaceous plants, the more complicated appearing

in shrubs, trees and other plants belonging to what are termed the higher orders.

GrowtH or CELts.—Each individual cell is a direct product of other cells, or some form of organizable matter containing the elements of which the cell is composed. At first the cell consists of a separate membrane, but as growth commences there is a re-arrangement of the formative matter, varying according to the characteristics of the plant in the course of development. In some of the lower forms, as has already been stated, the fully developed plant consists of a single cell, others of only an aggregation of the same or closely allied forms; but as we pass upward, the structure becomes more complicated, and there is a greater variety in the shape of the cells, as well as in the elements of which they are composed. The cells have the power of multiplication, new cells springing from the mother cell ; these in turn producing others, and in plants like the common puff ball, many millions are produced in a few hours. Dr. Lindley calculated that in one gigantic species, the Bovista Gigantea, that the cells were produced at the rate of sixty-six millions in a minute. But in such simple kinds of plants as the mushrooms and sea-weeds, the entire structure is composed of what is called cellular tissues, a pulpy mass very similar to that which makes up the bulk of our cultivated fruits and vegetables. Some cells elongate to a great length and become a continuous hollow tube, as in the filaments of Cotton, or solid fibers, as in the inner park of the Basswood and Papaw tree, or in such herbaceous plants as the Ramie, Hemp, Jute and other fiberyielding species. There is a wide difference in the way cells are united. In some of the lower orders of plants the cell walls separate as they form, but in the higher and more complex, the walls of the young cells are solid and only divide or split apart as they advance in age. In many of the simple plants, the cells are widely separated and the intervals between them is filled with a semiliquid mass, in which nothing that resembles acell can be discovered. But as we advance to the higher orders of

— plants, a more compact and systematic organization is observable and the cell-walls touch each other at one or more points, permitting of the transmission of fluids from one to another. While young the cell-walls are so thin that they allow of a rapid transmission of fluids and gases, but when they reach a more mature condition the walls become thick and rigid, but never entirely impervious to liquids, for even dead plants will absorb moisture, and often assume the forms and colors which they possessed when alive. The restoration to apparent life of various species of Lycopodiums, Mosses, and the well-known “‘ Rose of Jericho” (Anastatica hierochuntine), are familiar examples of this kind. But itis only while the cells are young and contain protoplasm that they are available for the propagation of plants under artificial conditions. The propagator should keep this in mind, as it will often be of assistance to him in selecting cuttings and cions of plants for propagation.

THe TRANSUDATION oF FuLuIps.—The inherent power that cells possess of absorbing fluids and transmitting them from cell to cell, is the process by which nature enables plants to obtain nutriment from the medium by which they are surrounded, whether it be air, earth, water, or all of these combined. This transference of fluids from one cell to another, by a process of transudation, is universal among plants, and whileit may be said that the energy displayed in the movement is controlled by a physical law applicable to both animal and vegetable membranes, still there is a vital force present in the living tissues, of the origin or properties of which we know but little. The operations of this force or principle may be, as is generally claimed by vegetable physiologists, purely mechanical, but that it does possess an inherent power of selection, using certain material or elements and rejecting others, can scarcely be doubted, or, as Dr. Thayer has said, in a paper on Plant Life, that,.

«While some of the little cells are at work on delicious honey and rare perfumes, others are engaged in compounding healing medicines and even deleterious poisons.” It is quite within the range of possibilities that plants possess the power of discrimination or choice, irrespective of their mechanical structure, and this may, in part at least, account for their responsive action to certain stimulants and not to others. Ofcourse we are not to suppose that plants possess any functions corresponding with mind in animals, but they do possess a sensitiveness, which often nearly approaches, if it does not quite reach, the realms of intelligence. The physical process in obedience to which fluids pass from cell to cell, or through any permeable membrane, has been named endosmosis and exosmosis. The first is given to the inward flow and the other to the outward. These names were applied by H. J. Dutrochet, an eminent French physiologist, who wrote several valuable treatises on animal and vegetable physiology, published in Paris between 1824 and 1837, and since his time the above terms have been in common use. The explanation of this process of transudation is, that liquids of different density, placed on opposite sides of a permeable membrane, are naturally attracted or flow towards each other, and sooner or later become intermingled. ‘he thinnest liquid will flow towards and into the thicker, and this movement is called endosmose, while at the same time a much smaller amount of the thicker will flow out into the thinner (exosmose), until both become of equal density.

A linen or silk bag, filled with honey or thick syrup, and suspended in a pail of water will furnish a good illustration of the movements of fluids by transudation, for while the water will flowin, some of the honey will be dissolved, thinned, and then flow out, this process continuing until the entire liquid becomes merely honey-flavored or sweetened water, and of the game density throughout. The same kind of interchange, as it may be termed, takes place when the living tissues of any two closely allied plants are placed in contact, as in the common operations of budding and grafting, for it will seldom occur that the density of the fluids in both stock and cion, or even a bud, will be exactly the same; consequently, a movement, however feeble at first, must follow close contact of the living plant-cells. In some instances, as I shall have occasion to show in a succeeding chapter, the greater the difference in density of the fluids, the more likely are the two parts to unite quickly and permanently. But it is not to be supposed that the transmission of fluids from cell to cell is all that is neces- ° sary to make those of one plant support another, or to insure a union between the severed parts of two species. or varieties, as in the operations of budding and grafting, for there is an individuality of plants not always easily recognized; still, 1t exists, and while the transudation of fluids may take place, there must also exist an affinity between stock and cion to insure the coalescing of cells.

The principle involved cannot, with our present knowledge of life in plants, be fully explained, and vegetable physiologists usually refer to the movement of fluids in plants as a mechanical process, probably because this is the easiest way of bridging a chasm that they cannot fathom. The sap of the Oak may flow into a cion from a Hickory by the process of transudation, but the cells of the latter refuse to use it, or even respond to astimulus from such a source. This individuality in the functions of cells enables one part of aplant to be engaged in accumulating very different elements from those of other parts. The leaves, flowers, roots and bark may all be manufacturing, as it were, quite different substances. The petals of the Rose emit a different scent from that of the leaf or other part of the plant, and that this fragrance is a distinct product of their cells is shown in the attar of Roses distilled therefrom. Then again almost every different variety of the Rose has an individual fragrance of its own, which is only emitted while the cells remain in their natural and original form. The bark-cells of many species of plants yield valuable products not to be found in any considerable amount in other parts of the same plant, as in the bark of the Cinnamon tree, Benzoin, Peruvian bark, and in the root-bark of the Sassafras. In other plants the roots may yield a large amount of coloring matter, as in those of the Madder, while only a trace of it appears in the stems and leaves. Seeds of some kinds of plants yield oil in the greatest profusion, with little or none in other parts; Flax, Rape and Cotton seed are familiar instances of this kind. Some seeds contain most powerful poisons, like those of the Strychnos, while the pulp surrounding them is innoxious. The Peach tree yields the most luscious of fruits, while from the seed may be extracted Prussic acid, the most virulent of all known vegetable poisons. Special deposits of special elements in the same plant may be considered the rule in nearly all of those most useful to man, and yet all these various substances are derived from the same sources, and are composed of simple elements, known by less than a half dozen different names. A plant, therefore, is in itself a chemical laboratory, and within its minute cells systematical evolutions are in progress, which we can neither see or fully understand, but the results are quite apparent to some one or all of our senses.

Chapter II. Movement And Reorganization Of Cells

There is always a struggle in nature to right herself after any disturbing cause has interrupted her ordinary currents and conditions, and the propagator of plants is constantly doing this, especially when multiplying plants by division of cellular and woody tissues. Young and active cells contain matter that not only serves for the completion of the cell itself, but for the formation of new cells, and it is to the latter principle that we must attribute the ready response of vegetable structures to various stimulants and irritants. When a mass of cells is artificially divided or separated, as in the operation of making cuttings of the stems and roots of ligneous plants, or of-cellular matter, as found in many bulbs and tubers, the exposed cells immediately make an effort to heal or cover the wound with new cells and restore the missing parts.

A severed root may, under favorable conditions, throw out new rootlets to take the place of the part removed, and from the exposed cells, made in removing a branch of a tree or shrub, new shoots often appear. Cuttings made of young twigs strive to furnish themselves with new roots wherewith to gather nutriment, and in all these various operations, there is a movement of cell-matter resulting in the production of new cells, no matter what form they may subsequently assume ; whether it be that of roots, leaves, or any other of the many parts and appendages of plants.

The movement of cell-matter under multifarious conditions appears to be always in response to either a stimulant or irritant, and whatever other stimulant there may be present, that of heat is of paramount import-

MOVEMENT AND REORGANIZATION OF CELLS. 21 ance. It may be that only one or two degrees above the freezing point is all that is necessary to promote action in the vegetable cells of certain plants indigenous to cold latitudes, still, this is just as indispensable as sixty or seventy degrees higher temperature is for producing a similar movement in the cells of those inhabiting tropical climates. ;

It is to this movement of cell-matter, in response to a stimulant, that we are indebted for all the benefits and advantages derived from the artificial methods of propagating plants. The gardener’s art consists principally © in taking advantage of what he has here learned in regard to the natural functions and properties of plants.

The uniformity of the movement of cell-matter has enabled the propagator to formulate certain operations in order that they may be conducted under uniform conditions, and for the express purpose of producing uniform results. Under certain conditions, he is enabled to make the cells of one plant throw out new cells which unite firmly with those of another, thereby admitting of the passage of fluids, as in the operations known as budding and grafting. But under other and different conditions, this exuded cell-matter may become roots, capable of absorbing nutriment directly from surrounding elements in the soil, or, as in the case of the true epiphytes, from the atmosphere.

Tn the formation of knots on ligneous plants there is certainly a deviation from natural channels in the depositing of cell-matter. A few cells at first, through some obstruction or disturbing cause, are forced out of a direct course, and the next layer of woody tissues deposited must pass over or around the obstruction, this being repeated year after year, until the entire abnormal structure is complete and built up, in many instances, to an enormous size; for Ash-knots two to three feet in diameter, and weighing a hundred pounds, are not un-

22 YROPAGATION OF PLANTS.

common in many of the forests of our Northern States. The grain of these knots appears to be formed by cells propelled by some cyclonic force that gave to chem a rotating motion, and yet there is a uniformity in this distorted re-arrangement. Another peculiarity of these knots is, that the bark covering them always partakes of the characteristics of the wood underneath and is fully as variable in structure.

But what may be termed the formative principle in plants, is always a potent power, and while frequently appearing to promote abnormal growths, is equally powerful in assisting the re-arrangement of cell-matter for continuing and perpetuating natural forms. The movement and re-arrangement of cell-matter under artificial conditions must have often been observed by all farmers and gardeners, although probably few of those engaged: in these pursuits ever think these phenomena worthy of any special attention or study. An excellent illustration of this movement or action of cells is often found among the tubers of the common Potato, that have been stored in cellars or pits where the temperature was a little too high to insure perfect inactivity. An increase of temperature a few degrees above the passive point tends to incite action in the cells, and the most natural result would be a growth from the eyes or buds, whick very frequently, if not generally, follows. But it is in the abnormal growths that we obtain the best illustration of the potency of the formative principle, as, for instance, in the not unfamiliar production of new tubers on the outside or within large hollow Potatoes. No leaves, stems, or roots are produced to assist the growth of these new tubers, but the starchy cell-matter of the old Potato moves inward or outward, as the case may be, and in re-forming, builds up an entirely new structure out of the materials obtained from the old. These new tubers, produced in the absence of light, have well-formed buds

MOVEMENT AND REORGANIZATION OF CELLS. 23 or eyes on their surface, and, in fact, are in every respect typical representatives of their parents, and yet the conditions under which they have grown are certainly abnormal or unnatural.

Similar movements of cell-matter, as seen in the Potato, occur in other species of tubers and bulbs, and they may be looked for among all families of plants when placed under artificial conditions, or subjected to injury or serious disturbance of any kind.

Propagators of plants can, and often do, utilize these abnormal growths, produced by the reorganization of cell-matter, in the multiplication of various species and varieties under cultivation. For instance, with the scaly bulbs of Lilies, like those of L. speciosum, shown in figure 4, we have a complete and perfect structure which, if planted entire, will produce its one, or, at most, two flower stems, with leaves scattered along their entire length, the roots gathering nutriment from the soil for the support of the plant. But if we separate the individual scales and place them m a congenial material, such as moist earth, sand or moss, keeping them only moderscate or ately warm, and allow sufficient time for the LILY BULB. change, each scale will produce a small bulb, an exact counterpart of the parent bulb. A small scale is shown in figure 5, as it appears when un-

Fig.4.—BULB OF LILIUM SPECIOSUM.

dergoing a change of structure. A cell near the base of the detached scale draws to itself the cell-matter of an adjoining one, the two add other cells, al] deriving their support from the contents of the old cells, and from these reservoirs of nutriment a new scaly bulb of the exact type of the old or parent bulb is built up, just as occurred in the formation of a new tuber out of the materials of the old one in the Potato. Sometimes several bulbs will be produced from a single scale, as the formative principle may become active in one or more cells at the same time. These ‘scales, in their aggregate form, make a complete or perfect bulb, are really sessile subterranean leaves, which, as shown, possess an inherent power of reproducing their kind in the absence of any additional organic material from other sources.