48 LAYERS 
A Verbena Layered, 
that the knife does not penetrate into the wood; and at ot 
is twisted firmly round the shoot, so as to pinch in the ba 
knife or other sharp instrument is passed through the branch several 
times in different directions: in short, any thing that wounds, or 
injures the shoot, so as to throw an impediment in the way of the 
returning sap, and yet not to prevent the passage of the sap that is 
ascending, will suffice. 
Layering is a very common mode of propagating plants; and in 
nurseries often every shoot of a tree or shrub is thus wounded and 
pegged down. In this case, the central root is called a stool, from 
the verb, to sfole, which signifies the power most deciduous trees 
possess, of sending up new stems from their roots when cut down. 
The seasons for performing the operation of layering are during the 
months of February and March, before the new sap begins to rise, 
or in June or July after all the summer supply of ascending sap has 
