PROPAGATION. 223 



Layering is used in propagating very many clioice shrubs. 

 Ehododendrons, azaleas, andromedas, magnolias, and other 

 valuable ornamental subjects, are for the most part propagated 

 by layering, some striking roots into the ground more readily 

 than others, but all rooting fit to be taken off in a single 

 season. Let autumn be fixed upon for the layering, and the 

 next autumn the rooted portions may come off; according to 

 the nature of the shrub, whether it be free-rooting or other- 

 wise, so pains must be taken or otherwise, to promote the 

 desired end. Let us suppose that a currant-bush, with four 

 or five long branches to it, were to be layered, we should 

 require to get a long peg with a hook to it, like a small 

 hooked walking-stick, say six inches long ; bind the branches 

 down to the ground, and at the part that it can be made 

 touch, but as near as may be to the old tree, make a portion 

 of the soil loose, so as to let the part of the branch down 

 an inch under the surface, and with the peg fasten it by 

 thrusting it into the ground low enough to make the hook 

 hold the branch firmly down, the end being above the surface, 

 and if it cannot be made to stand out of the ground well with- 

 out, let there be a stone or something to hold it out : the 

 proper method of layering being to make the branch dip, as 

 it were, under the surface two or three inches in length and 

 come out of the soil again. In this simple way the branch will 

 be induced to root strongly at the place where it is pegged 

 down, and the more sudden the bend, the sooner will the 

 branches emit their roots. We have mentioned the currant- 

 tree because it roots freely, but there are others which require 

 something more ; and generally speaking, those which will 

 root so freely by merely pegging down the branches under 

 ground, would also strike freely if cut off and planted ; but 

 it serves to show the nature of layering, because many that, so 

 served, could not root under two or three years, may be made 

 to strike root earlier by various means. 



The principle upon which earlier rooting is promoted is 

 that of lessening the nourishment which the branch receives 

 from the parent shrub. Li some cases, as in very tough sub- 

 jects, such as the vine, a twist betu^een the parent and the 

 place pegged down, but as near it as possible, is sufiicient to 

 hasten the striking, because the course of the sap is inter- 

 rupted, and the branch is left more to its own resources ; and 

 nature is always struggling to supply deficiencies, consequently 



