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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tiplying all hard wooded plants which do not start well from cut- 

 tings. Layering is done by first removing about ten inches of the 

 leaves on the stem, beginning at a point about one foot from the 

 end. Next, with a sharp knife make a slit one and one-half inches 

 long, beginning immediately back of the bud, on the under side of 

 the stem. Then, while the operator still holds the stem in the left 

 hand he should open up a long furrow about two inches deep with 

 a steel trowel. Next, carefully bring the stem into this furrow. 



Plate 1— Showing: the bark on the stock cut aiid loosened up, and the bud held in the 

 hand ready to slip into place under the baik. 



bending the end upward as sharply as possible without breaking 

 the wood. Then cover up with the soil and firm it down thorough- 

 ly, leaving the top of the stem which bears the leaves in as up- 

 right a position as possible. Root development will soon com- 

 mence and by fall this layer should become a well rooted plant. It 

 should then receive a mulching to protect the roots, which will nat- 

 urally be near the surface of the soil. In the spring this new plant 

 should be cut loose from the parent stem and planted out in rows 

 three and a half feet apart, and the plants twelve inches apart in 

 the row. They should be thoroughly cultivated and sprayed sev- 

 eral times during the summer to keep them free from the various 



