ll that; and we shall, of
course, keep up the experiments.
President Morris: In my experiments, I grafted hickory scions on hickory
roots, and the whole thing, root and scion, lived until the root sent
out adventitious buds, yet in that case we did not get union between the
top and the stock. How do you explain that, Professor Craig?
Professor Craig: I don't explain it.
President Morris: Are we likely to have success along that line by some
modification of the plan?
Professor Craig: I couldn't say. You can keep the cuttings alive for
three or four months.
President Morris: They were in damp rooms, exposed to light, right in
the window.
Doctor Deming: Professor Coville has made some experiments in rooting
hickory cuttings for me. Professor Coville is the one who has made such
a success of blueberry culture. I sent him some cuttings, and he reports
as follows:
"Two experiments were tried with the hickory cuttings received from Dr.
W. C. Deming on January 5, 1911. In one experiment some of the cuttings
were placed in a glass cutting bed in live sphagnum covered with sand,
the upper ends of the cuttings projecting from the sand. The atmosphere
above the cutting bed was kept in a state of saturation by a covering of
glass. The bed was kept shaded and was subjected to an ordinary living
room temperature varying from about 55 deg. to 70 deg., or occasionally a few
degrees higher.
On January 11 the cambium ring at the lower end of the cuttings had
begun to callus. On February 17 the upper bud on one of the cuttings
began to push. Later some of the other cuttings began to swell
preparatory to the development of new growth. All the cuttings, however,
finally died. It appeared from their behavior that the temperatures to
which they were subjected were too high for their best development.
In the other experiment the cuttings were placed in sand without
sphagnum in a greenhouse at a temperature ordinarily of 50 deg. to 65 deg.,
rising occasionally, however, on still, sunny days to 70 deg.. After a few
weeks, these cuttings were well callused and the buds began to swell
slowly, exposing first their green bracts, and later on some of the
cuttings the green compound leaves, pushing out from among the bracts.
These cuttings also, however, finally turned black and died, but not
until after the first of April.
The experiments showed that hickory cuttings, when taken at a suitable
time of year and exposed to conditio
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