LAY 



LAY 



of trees and shrubs, and many herbaceous 

 plants. It is effected by laying branches and 

 young shoots of trees and plants in the earth, 

 from two or three to five or six inches deep, 

 leaving their tops out, that the part layed in the 

 earth may emit roots, and become a plant. 

 The layers, when rooted, should be separated 

 from the parent, and planted in the nursery, or 

 other pioper place, to acquire due strength and 

 size, for the purposes for which they are de- 

 signed. 



They require different lengths of time for be- 

 coming rooted, from a few months to two or 

 more \ ears. 



Numbers of shrubs and trees are increased 

 by layers, but the practice is more particularly 

 applicable to the shrub kind ; as their branches 

 grow near the ground, convenient for being 

 laid down. It may, however, be practised with 

 success on fruit-trees and forest-trees, when 

 their branches are situated low enough for being 

 laid, though the varieties of many fruit-trees 

 are better propagated by grafting and inocula- 

 tion. The vine and fig, however, often admit 

 of being increased by layers ; and forest-trees, 

 for the continuance of varieties ; as the plants 

 raised in this method continue exactly the same 

 as the parent plant from whence they were 

 raised. This is a certain method to continue 

 any approved variety, as well as to increase such 

 shrubs or trees as do not produce seeds here, and 

 which cannot be easily obtained. It is likewise 

 an expeditious and easy mode of propagation ; 

 as by it many new plants are often raised in a 

 few months, which would take two or three 

 years to bring them to the same size from seed. 

 In many sorts it is so easy that all the shoots of 

 any branch situated near the ground, or conveni- 

 ent for laying down, maybe made distinct plants. 

 For all sorts of the tree or shrub kinds, it is 

 generally performed on the young shoots of the 

 preceding summer, which should be laid down 

 in spring or autumn; but sometimes on shoots 

 of the same year, in summer, especially in the 

 hard-wooded evergreen trees and shrubs, that 

 do not strike root readily in the older wood. 

 Many sorts of trees that have their wood of a 

 soft loose texture often grow pretty freely by 

 Layers of them, of two or several years growth. 

 In herbaceous plants capable of being propa- 

 gated by layers, such as carnations, pinks, 

 double sweet-williams, &c. the young shoots 

 of the same year, laid down in June and July, 

 are commonly the most successful. 



The season for performing this sort of work, 

 in most sorts of trees and shrubs, is autumn 

 and spring, though it may be performed at al- 

 most any time of the year. 



Many kinds of under-shrubby and herba- 



ceous plants also succeed, if layed any time in 

 spring or summer till the end of June; though 

 that and the following month are the most suc- 

 cessful for the herbaceous tribe, as carnations 

 and others usually propagated by laying, as they 

 then rootthe same season in from three orfourto 

 five or six weeks, so as to be proper for trans- 

 planting. 



When it is intended to lay trees or shrubs that 

 naturally run up to stems, without furnishing 

 any considerable quantity of lower branches for 

 laying, a sufficient number of strong plants 

 should be set in the nursery, at proper di- 

 stances, and headed down in the autumn or 

 spring after, within a few inches of the ground, 

 that they may throw out a good quantity of 

 young shoots the following summer, near the 

 earth, so as to be convenient for laying down in 

 the succeeding autumn ; or, by waiting another 

 year many more, shoots for the purpose of layers 

 will be provided, by the first shoots throwing out 

 many lateral ones, each of which when layed will 

 form a plant. And on the layers being rooted, 

 and all cleared away, the stool remaining will 

 furnish another crop of shoots for laying next 

 year, and the same in succession for many years. 

 When layers are wanted from trees that are 

 grown up, and whose branches are at a distance 

 from the ground, a temporary stage or scaffold is 

 erected, on which pots or tubs of mould are 

 placed to receive the layers. 



The general method of merely laying the 

 branches or shoots in the earth, is practised 

 for all sorts; but previous to laying, they are 

 often prepared in different ways to facilitate their 

 rooting, according as the trees of different na- 

 tures require; as by simple laying, twisting, 

 slitting, cutting the bark, piercing the shoot, 

 wireing, &c. 



Simple Laying. — This is merely laying the 

 shoots in the earth, as directed below, without 

 any previous preparation of twisting, slitting, 

 &c. and is sufficient for a great number of trees 

 and shrubs of the soft-wooded kinds; but for 

 such as do not readily root by this simple me- 

 thod, recourse must be had to some of the fol- 

 lowing ways. 



Twisting the Layer. — By giving the shoot a 

 gentle twist in the part designed to be layed in 

 the ground, it greatly promotes and facilitates 

 the emission of fibres from the bruised part. 



Slitting or Tonguing the Layer. — This is the 

 most universal and successful mode, where any 

 preparation of the shoot is necessary to promote 

 its rooting ; it is performed by slitting the 

 shoot at a joint underneath, up the middle, 

 half an inch or an inch or more long, according 

 to the size and nature of the layer, forming a 

 sort of tongue nearly the same' as directed for 



