It is not always easy to find growing shoots from which to make the cuttings. The best practice, in that case, is _to cut back an old plant, then keep it warm and well watered, and thereby force it to throw out new shoots_. The old geranium plant from the window garden, or the one taken up from the lawn bed, may be treated this way (see Fig. 162). The best plants of geranium and coleus and most window plants are those which are not more than one year old. _The geranium and fuchsia cuttings which are made in January, February, or March will give compact blooming plants for the next winter; and thereafter new ones should take their places_ (Fig. 163). [Illustration: FIG. 162.--OLD GERANIUM PLANT CUT BACK TO MAKE IT THROW OUT SHOOTS FROM WHICH CUTTINGS CAN BE MADE.] [Illustration: FIG. 163.--EARLY WINTER GERANIUM, from a spring cutting.] =The Hardwood Cutting=.--_Best results with cuttings of mature wood are secured when the cuttings are made in the fall and then buried until spring in sand in the cellar._ These cuttings are usually six to ten inches long. They are not idle while they rest. The lower end calluses or heals, and the roots form more readily when the cutting is planted in the spring. But if the proper season has passed, take cuttings at any time in winter, plant them in a deep box in the window, and watch. They will need no shading or special care. Grape, currant, gooseberry, willow, and poplar readily take root from the hardwood. Fig. 164 shows a currant cutting. It has only one bud above the ground. [Illustration: FIG. 164.--CURRANT CUTTING.] =The Graft.=--_When the cutting is inserted in a plant rather than in the soil, it is a graft_; and the graft may grow. In this case the cutting grows fast to the other plant, and the two become one. When the cutting is inserted in a plant, it is no longer called a cutting, but a =cion=; and the plant in which it is inserted is called the =stock=. Fruit trees are grafted _in order that a certain variety or kind may be perpetuated_, as a Baldwin or Ben Davis variety of apple, Seckel or Bartlett pear, Navel or St. Michael orange. _Plants have preferences as to the stocks on which they will grow; but we can find out what their choice is only by making the experiment._ The pear grows well on the quince, but the quince does not thrive on the pear. The pear grows on some of the hawthorns, but it is an unwilling subject on the apple. Tomato plants will grow on potato plants and potato plants on tomato plants. When the potato is the root, both tomatoes and potatoes may be produced, although the crop will be very small; when the tomato is the root, neither potatoes nor tomatoes will be produced. Chestnut will grow on some kinds of oak. In general, one species or kind is grafted on the same species, as apple on apple, pear on pear, orange on orange.