The myrtle, too, may be propagated from cuttings, and the mulberry is grown no other way, the religious observances relative to lightning[1] forbidding it to be grafted on the elm;[2] hence it would appear that the present is a fitting opportunity for speaking of reproduction from cuttings. Care should be taken more particularly to select the slips from fruitful trees, and it should be seen that they are neither bent, scabbed, nor bifurcated. The cuttings, too, should be thick enough to fill the hand, and not less than a foot in length: the bark, too, should be uninjured, and the end which is cut and lies nearest the root should always be the one inserted in the earth. While the work of germination is going on, the slip should be kept well moulded up, until such time as it has fully taken root.