LAYEKING, 



180 



■witii shoots of the same year's growth 

 maybe taken off the following spring : 

 but the general practice is to layer 



FIG. Ho. — LATER OF A CAR>-ATION. 



them in autnmn or winter, and allow 

 the layers to remain on the plants for 

 a year. Layers of herbaceous plants, 

 such as Carnations, Pinks, Double 

 Sweet "Williams, and Chiysanthe- 



FIG. 34.— LAYER OF A DECIDUOUS 

 PLANT . 



mums, made in the beginning of 

 summer, will hare made roots by the 

 autumn ; and the layers of Chrysan- 



themums so rooted will flower the 

 winter of the same year. To facili- 

 tate the rooting of all layers, whether 

 ligneous or herbaceous, a notch, or 

 slit is made in that part of the shoot 

 which is buried in the soil ; or it is 

 twisted, and a portion of the bark 

 taken off, or it is in some other way 

 wounded, bruised, or injured, so as to 

 check the return of the sap by the 

 bark, when the sap, accumulating at 

 the upper lip of the wound, forms a 

 callosity there of granulated matter, 

 from which roots are soon after 

 emitted. In layering herbaceous 

 plants, and more especially Carna- 

 tions, the slit is made on the under 

 side of the shoot, and in the case of 

 woody plants, on the upper side. In 

 both cases, the knife is entered 

 immediately below a bud or joint ; 

 roots being always more freely 

 protruded at the joints of plants 

 than in the intervals between them. 

 The cut is generally made half 

 through the shoot, and continued up 

 half an inch or an inch, and to keep 

 it open a small splinter of wood, or 

 a small flat stone, or a piece of slate, 

 or a potsherd, is put in between the 

 divided parts to irritate the wound 

 and cause it to protrude granulous 

 matter. See fg. 33. In layering 

 herbaceous plants, it was formerly 

 the custom to shorten the leaves 

 remaining on the layer, but in modem 

 practice this is considered unneces- 

 sary, and even injurious, by lessening 

 the powers of the leaves to elaborate 

 the sap. The leaves are always 

 stripped off that part off the layer 

 which is buried in the soil ; as 

 shown in the layer of a deciduous 

 plant, fig. 34. In layering some 

 woody plants, such as certain kinds 

 of Eoses, Tree Pseonies, &c., the 

 entire shoot is laid down, and the 

 I knife entered immediately below 

 I each eye ; and the wounds being 

 I kept open by splinters of wood or 



