288 VILLA GARDENING part hi 



done any time before the buds swell in spring. The branches to 

 be operated on are brought down to the ground, and they may be 

 of two or more years' growth. A notch should be cut about the 

 centre of the part buried in the soil, or the stem may be split 

 with a sharp knife at that point. A slight hole is excavated, 

 the branch pegged down, and then covered with sandy loam 

 formed into a basin over the part cut, which must be kept moist 

 in dry weather. At the end of twelve months, roots will, in the 

 majority of cases, have formed in sufficient quantity for the layers 

 to be separated from their parents and planted in a nursery bed 

 for a couple of years to get strong, being in tlie meantime pruned 

 into shape by having the centre opened and all side branches 

 removed from the stem, the latter to be from 18 inches to 2 feet 

 high. Suckers are often used for propagating, but, although they 

 involve less trouble, they are longer in coming into bearing, and 

 do not make such fertile i)lants. Seeds are also often employed, 

 and should be sown in autumn, the seed beds to be covered witii 

 slates to prevent the mice finding them and carrying them oft", 

 which they quickly do if unprotected. The slates also tend to 

 keep the soil in an even state of moisture, and hasten germination. 

 When the seedlings are strong enough — which will be by the end 

 of the second year — they should be transplanted into the nursery 

 bed and be placed in training. Grafting is sometimes resorted to 

 for the purpose of converting the seedlings quickly into bearing 

 plants. Tiie same principles as are successful in other kinds of 

 grafting will be necessary in the case of the Nut, i.e. the scions 

 must be taken off" and laid in moist earth in a cool place before 

 the buds begin to move on the trees from which they are taken ; 

 and when the sap begins to move, in March, the young seedlings 

 may be headed down, and the gi-afts placed on by any understood 

 method, splice or whip-grafting being as good as any, binding the 

 parts together firmly and covering the union with grafting clay or 

 wax to exclude the air. All the Nuts produce the male and 

 female blossom on diff"erent parts of the tree, the organs not being 

 situated in the same flower, as is common with the Apple, Pear, 

 and many other fruits. The long brown catkins, which appear 

 first in winter, are the male blossoms, and about the time when 

 these have reached their proper state of development— usually 

 about February — the female blossoms burst out at the extremities 

 of the plump little buds which appear so numerous at tlie ends 

 of the feathery spray on fertile buslies. The female flower is a 

 bright crimson tuft springing directly out of the bud, and is 

 fertilised by the dust which falls in clouds when agitated by the 

 March winds. Sometimes, when there is a scarcity of male 



