Material. Grape canes, stored and rooted cuttings of the grape.

These cuttings fall under the general head of hardwood cuttings, but they represent different forms which are best suited to certain plants. The plant which lends itself best to the study of these forms of hardwood cuttings is the grape.

1. A one-eye cutting is a hardwood cutting containing one well-developed and mature bud, with a small piece of the branch on each side of the bud. These cuttings are laid flat when planted. Make a natural-size drawing of a one-eye cutting of the grape. How long is this cutting? Label, and describe.

2. A two-eye and a three-eye cutting are cuttings containing two and three buds respectively, with a small portion of the branch at each end. Make a natural-size drawing of each cutting. How long are the internodes? Study from a stored cutting the callus tissue which has formed. Does this differ from the callus tissue in the currant and the gooseberry?

Fig. 10. Hardwood cuttings of the grape, showing the three-eye, the two-eye, the one-eye, the heel, and the mallet cutting.

3. A mallet cutting is a cutting that contains a small section of the parent branch forming a T, or mallet, at its base (Fig. 10). Some varieties of grapes, as well as many ornamentals, root easily from this kind of a cutting. It should usually have two buds. Make a natural-size drawing showing the mallet. The mallet portion should be about one inch in length. Label all parts. These cuttings are treated in the same way as single-stem cuttings.

4. A heel cutting is a cutting with a small portion of the wood of the previous year at its base (Fig. 10). This is similar to the mallet cutting, but the heel is only a small piece shaved from one side of the parent branch.

Make a drawing showing the cutting attached to the parent branch, and indicate by dotted lines where the cut should be made. This cutting should contain two buds.

Compare this with the drawing made in 3 and give the significance of both forms. What advantages have mallet cuttings and heel cuttings over one-eye, two-eye, and three-eye cuttings? Discuss hardwood cuttings in general.

Reference

Farmers' Bulletin No. 157, pp. 10-12.