organism constitutes a new individual which may vary somewhat from its parent, in the former it is only a new development of a part of a previously existing organization. The similarity existing between the two is exceedingly close, and is a matter of great importance in horticultural operations. Dr. Lindley, in the Gardener's Chronicle, says very truly, that "every bud of a tree is an individual vegetable, and a tree, therefore, is a family or swarm of individual plants, like the polype with its young growing out of its sides, or like the branching cells of the coral insect." Similar opinions, more or less modified, have been expressed by subsequent physiologists, and are familiar to men of science in every country and, we may add, are also universally accepted as true by all who claim a right to express an opinion upon the subject.—Men of science recognize the individuality of buds.—Nobody doubts the individuality of buds.—In a gardening aspect, the individuality of buds is the cardinal point upon which some of our most important operations turn; such, for example, as all modes of propagation whatever, except by seed. If this be not fully understood, there is no possible explanation of the reasons why certain results are sure to follow the attachment of a bud, or the insertion of a graft, or the planting of a cutting, or the bending of a layer, or the approach of a scion, or the setting of an eye—our six great forms of artificial multiplication. In his Elements of Botany, the same writer says: "An embryo is a young plant produced by the agency of the sexes, and developed within a seed—a leaf bud is a young plant, produced without the agency of the sexes, enclosed within the rudimentary leaves called scales, and developed on a stem." "An embryo propagates the species, leaf-buds propagate the individual." He shows each to be "a young plant developing itself upwards, downwards and horizontally, into stem, root, and medullary system."
Dr. Schleiden thus beautifully expresses his views of their individuality: "Now the bud essentially is nothing more than a repetition of the plant on which it is formed. The foundation of a new plant consists equally of a stem and leaves, and the sole distinction is that the stem becomes intimately blended at its base with the mother plant in its growth, and has no free radical extremity like that exhibited by a plant developed from a seed. However, this distinction is not so great as at the first glance it appears. Every plant of high organization possesses the power of shooting out adventitious roots from its stem, under the favoring influences of moisture; and very frequently, even plants that have been raised from seed, are forced to content themselves with such adventitious roots, since it is the nature of many plants, for instance the grasses, never to develop their proper root, although the radicle is actually present. We are, it is true, accustomed to look upon the matter as though the buds must always be developed into twigs and branches, on and in connection with the plant itself; and thus in common life, we regard them as parts of a plant, and not as independent individuals, which they are in fact, although they, like children who remain in their paternal home, retain the closest connection with the plant on which they were produced. That they are at least capable of becoming independent plants, is shown by an experiment frequently successful when the necessary care is taken, namely the breaking off and sowing of the buds of our forest trees. The well-known garden operations of grafting and budding are also examples of this, and layering only differs from the sowing of the buds, in that the buds on the layers are allowed to acquire a certain degree of maturity before they are separated from the parent plant. All here depends upon the facility with which these bud plants root as it is called, that is develop adventitious roots, when they are brought in contact with moist earth. * * * Nature herself very often makes use of this method to multiply certain plants in incalculable numbers. In a few cases, the process resembles the artificial sowing of buds, as when the plant spontaneously throws off the perfect buds at a certain period; an instance of this is afforded by some of our garden Lilies, which throw off the little bulb-like buds which appear in the axils of the lower leaves. The more common mode of proceeding is as follows: Those buds which have been formed near the surface of the soil, grow up into shoots provided with leaves; but the shoots are long, slender and delicate, the leaves too are stunted into little scales; in their axils, however, they develop strong buds, which either in the same or in the following year take root, and the slender shoot connecting them with the parent plant, dying and decaying, they become free independent plants. In this manner the strawberry soon covers a neglected garden."12
Upon the development of a cell in any living tissue, and its power of reproducing other cells, and upon its function of communicating by endosmosis and exosmosis with other like cells, depend all our success in propagating vegetables, whether from seeds or buds, and parts containing these. We must study the circumstances that favor the development of cells, if we would be successful in propagating plants. Each bud being considered an individual, and capable, under favorable circumstances, of taking on a separate existence, we can multiply any individual variety indefinitely, and be sure of having the same qualities of foliage and fruit that we admire in the original, and that we may desire to propagate. This applies equally to a group of buds, as in cuttings, grafts and layers, etc.; but, more wonderful still, there are cells capable of developing buds where none existed before, and even in tissues or parts of a plant where we do not usually find buds—hence we have a mode of propagation of many woody plants, by root cuttings, and by leaves, and even parts of leaves.
Propagation by Cuttings.—Many fruits are multiplied by this means. Healthy shoots of the previous year's growth are usually selected and taken when the parent is in a dormant state, or still better, when it is approaching this condition. Sometimes a small portion of the previous year's growth is left with the cutting, making a sort of heel; when this is not to be had, or not preferred, the slip is to be prepared for planting by cutting it smoothly just below a bud, as this seems to be the most favorable point in many plants for the emission of roots. Some plants will throw out radicles at any point indifferently along the internodes or merithallus. The preference for heel-cuttings depends upon the fact, that near the base of the annual shoot there are always a great number of buds, many of which, however, being imperfectly developed, are inconspicuous, but though dormant, they seem to favor the emission of rootlets. Cuttings may be made to grow if taken at any period of their development, but when green and soft, they require particular conditions of heat and moisture in the soil, and atmosphere, that are only under the control of the professional gardener. They are usually taken in the dormant state, because they are then susceptible of being made to grow under the ordinary conditions of out-door gardening. If cut early in the season, on the approach of autumn, after the wood-growth has been perfected, they may be planted at once with good prospect of success, or they may be put into the soil, out of doors, in the cellar, or in a cold frame or pit, and a very important step in the progress of their growth will commence at once. The leafless sticks are not dead, and whenever the temperature will admit of the quiet interchange of fluids among their cells, this curious function will go on, and will be accompanied by the development or generation of new cells that soon cover the cut surfaces, constituting what the gardeners call the callus. This is the first step toward growth, and it most readily occurs when the earth is warmer than the air; hence the value of fall planting, whether of trees or of cuttings, if done before the earth has been chilled, and hence also, the importance of bottom heat in artificial propagation. If on the contrary the air be warm and the ground cold, the buds are often stimulated to burst forth, before the rootlets can have started. The expanding foliage which so delights the tyro in propagation, offers an extended surface for evaporation, the contained juices of the cutting itself are soon exhausted, no adequate supply is furnished, and the hopeful plant soon withers, or damps off, and dies.13 The cutting, like the seed, must have "first the root, then the blade." The length of time that is allowed for cuttings to prepare for rooting, if they are designed for spring planting, should be as great as possible, and the circumstances under which they are kept should be such as to favor the development of the cells, so that roots may form freely with the breaking of the buds, if not before.
Root-cuttings should be made in the spring, just before the usual period of the bursting of the buds in the plant to be propagated. The tendency to develop buds appears to be then most active. Gentle bottom heat, though not essential, is still very desirable, and will conduce to the success of the operation. Some plants are best propagated by this means, and those too, which never naturally produce suckers, may often be successfully grown by sections of
The Plant, a Biography: M.J. Schleiden, p. 68.
Because it had no root, it withered away. Mat. 13, 6.
