CHAPTER V
THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS
There is a knack in the successful handling of plants that it is
impossible to describe in print. All persons can improve their practice
through diligent reading of useful gardening literature, but no amount
of reading and advice will make a good gardener of a person who does not
love to dig in a garden or who does not have a care for plants just
because they are plants.
To grow a plant well, one must learn its natural habits. Some persons
learn this as if by intuition, acquiring the knowledge from close
discrimination of the behavior of the plant. Often they are themselves
unconscious of this knack of knowing what will make the plant to thrive;
but it is not at all necessary to have such an intuitive judgment to
enable one to be even more than a fairly good gardener. Diligent
attention to the plant's habits and requirements, and a real regard for
the plant's welfare, will make any person a successful plant-grower.
Some of the things that a person should know about any plant he would
grow are these:--
- Whether the plant matures in the first, second, third, or subsequent
years; and when it naturally begins to fail.
- The time of the year or season in which it normally grows, blooms, or
fruits; and whether it can be forced at other seasons.
- Whether it prefers a situation dry or moist or wet, hot or cool, sunny
or shady.
- Its preferences as to soil, whether very rich or only moderately rich,
sand or loam, or peat or clay.
- Its hardiness as to frost, wind, drought, heat.
- Whether it has any special requirements as to germination, and whether
it transplants well.
- Whether it is specially liable to attack by insects or disease.
- Whether it has a special inability to grow two years in succession on
the same land.
Having suited the situation to the plant, and having prepared the ground
well and made a resolution to keep it well, special attention must be
given to such matters as these:--
- Guarding from all insects and diseases; and also from cats and chickens
and dogs; and likewise from rabbits and mice.
- Protecting from weeds.
- Pruning, in the case of fruit trees and bushes, and also of ornamental
woody plants on occasion, and sometimes even of annual herbs.
- Staking and tying, particularly of sprawly garden flowers.
- Persistent picking of seed pods or dead flowers from flower plants, in
order to conserve the strength of the plant and to prolong its season
of bloom.
- Watering in dry weather (but not sprinkling or dribbling).
- Thorough winter protecting of plants that need it.
- Removing dead leaves, broken branches, weak and sickly plants, and
otherwise keeping the place tidy and trim.
Sowing the seeds.
Prepare the surface earth well, to make a good seed-bed. Plant when the
ground is moist, if possible, and preferably just before a rain if the
soil is of such character that it will not bake. For shallow-planted
seeds, firm the earth above them by walking over the row or by patting
it down with a hoe. Special care should be exercised not to sow very
small and slow-germinating seeds, as celery, carrot, onion, in poorly
prepared soil or in ground that bakes. With such seeds it is well to
sow seeds of radish or turnip, for these germinate quickly and break the
crust, and also mark the row so that tillage may be begun before the
regular-crop seeds are up.
Land may be prevented from baking over the seeds by scattering a very
thin layer of fine litter, as chaff, or of sifted moss or mold, over the
row. A board is sometimes laid on the row to retain the moisture, but it
must be lifted gradually just as soon as the plants begin to break the
ground, or the plants will be greatly injured. Whenever practicable,
seed-beds of celery and other slow-germinating seeds should be shaded.
If the beds are watered, be careful that the soil is not packed by the
force of the water or baked by the sun. In thickly sown seed-beds, thin
or transplant the plants as soon as they have made their first
true leaves.
For most home-grounds, seeds may be sown by hand, but for large areas of
one crop, one of the many kinds of seed-sowers may be used. The
particular methods of sowing seeds are usually specified in the seed
catalogues, if other than ordinary treatment is required. The
sled-markers (already described, p. 108) open a furrow of sufficient
depth for the planting of most seeds. If marker furrows are not
available, a furrow may be opened with a hoe for such deep-planted seeds
as peas and sweet peas, or by a trowel or end of a rakestale for smaller
seeds. In narrow beds or boxes, a stick or ruler (Fig. 115) may be used
for opening creases to receive the seeds.
The depth at which seeds are to be planted varies with the kind, the
soil and its preparation, the season, and whether they are planted in
the open or in the house. In boxes and under glass, it is a good rule
that the seed be sown at a depth equal to twice its own diameter, but
deeper sowing is usually necessary out of doors, particularly in hot and
dry weather. Strong and hardy seeds, as peas, sweet peas, large
fruit-tree seeds, may be planted three to six inches deep. Tender seeds,
that are injured by cold and wet, may be planted after the ground is
settled and warm at a greater depth than before that season. As a rule,
nothing is gained by sowing tender seeds before the weather is
thoroughly settled and the ground warm.
Propagating by cuttings.
Many common plants are propagated by cuttings rather than by seeds,
particularly when it is desired to increase a particular variety.
Cuttings are parts of plants inserted in soil or water with the
intention that they shall grow and make new plants. They are of various
kinds. They may be classified, with reference to the age of the wood or
tissue, into two classes; viz. those made from perfectly hard or dormant
wood (taken from the winter twigs of trees and bushes), and those made
from more or less immature or growing wood. They may be classified again
in respect to the part of the plants from which they are taken, as
root-cuttings, tuber-cuttings (as the ordinary "seed" planted for
potatoes), stem-cuttings, and leaf-cuttings.
Dormant stem-cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 122. The planting of the dormant-wood cuttings.]
Dormant-wood cuttings are used for grapes (Fig. 122), currants,
gooseberries, willows, poplars, and many other kinds of soft-wooded
trees and shrubs. Such cuttings are ordinarily taken in fall or winter,
but cut into the proper lengths and then buried in sand or moss where
they do not freeze, in order that the lower end may heal over or
callous. In the spring these cuttings are set in the ground, preferably
in a rather sandy and well-drained place.
[Illustration: Fig. 123. Carnation cutting.]
Usually, hardwood cuttings are made with two to four joints or buds, and
when they are planted, only the upper bud projects above the ground.
They may be planted erect, as Fig. 122 shows, or somewhat slanting. In
order that the cutting may reach down to moist earth, it is desirable
that it should not be less than 6 in. long; and it is sometimes better
if it is 8 to 12 in. If the wood is short-jointed, there may be several
buds on a cutting of this length; and in order to prevent too many
shoots from arising from these buds the lowermost buds are often cut
out. Roots will start as readily if the lower buds are removed, since
the buds grow into shoots and not into roots.
Cuttings of currants, grapes, gooseberries, and the like may be set in
rows that are far enough apart to admit of easy tillage either with
horse or hand tools, and the cuttings may be placed 3 to 8 in. apart in
the row. The English varieties of gooseberries, considerably grown in
this country, do not propagate readily from cuttings.
After the cuttings have grown one season, the plants are usually
transplanted and given more room for the second year's growth, after
which time they are ready to be set in permanent plantations. In some
cases, the plants are set at the end of the first year; but two-year
plants are stronger and usually preferable.
Cuttings of roots.
Root-cuttings are used for blackberries, raspberries, and a few other
things. They are ordinarily made of roots from the size of a lead pencil
to one's little finger, and are cut in lengths from 3 to 5 in. long. The
cuttings are stored the same as stem-cuttings and allowed to callous. In
the spring they are planted in a horizontal or nearly horizontal
position in moist sandy soil, being entirely covered to a depth of 1
or 2 in.
Green cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 124. Verbena cutting.]
Softwood or greenwood cuttings are usually made of wood that is mature
enough to break when it is bent sharply. When the wood is so soft that
it will bend and not break, it is too immature, in the majority of
plants, for the making of good cuttings.
[Illustration: Fig. 125. Leaf-cutting.]
One to two joints is the proper length of a greenwood cutting. If of two
joints, the lower leaves should be cut off and the upper leaves cut in
two so that they do not present their entire surface to the air and
thereby evaporate the plant juices too rapidly. If the cutting is of
only one joint, the lower end is usually cut just above a joint. In
either case, the cuttings are usually inserted in sand or well-washed
gravel, nearly or quite up to the leaves. Keep the bed uniformly moist
throughout its depth, but avoid any soil which holds so much moisture
that it becomes muddy and sour. These cuttings should be shaded until
they begin to emit their roots. Coleus, geraniums, fuchsias, carnations,
and nearly all the common greenhouse and house plants, are propagated by
these cuttings or slips (Figs. 123, 124).
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