How to ^rofagate Shrubs. 147 



be dug and enriched around the parent shrub, and if a little sand is 

 added it will be well, unless the soil is naturally light. Layers may be 

 made in spring, summer, or autumn. For most shrubs we prefer sum- 

 mer, using the young wood of the same season's growth, and laying it 

 as soon as it has become hard enough to bear the operation. The lay- 

 ers may remain on the parent plant till the following spring, when they 

 should be removed, if roots have formed, and planted out for growth. 



Cuttings. — Some shrubs are very quickly and easily raised from 

 cuttings ; others i^efuse to multiply by this method. Deutzias, spiraeas, 

 euonymus, tartarian and climbing honeysuckles, hydrangeas, syringas, 

 lilacs, Forsythias, flowering currants, elders, tamarix, viburnums, and 

 weigelias all strike root very readily. Nearly all of them can be raised 

 from the ripened wood, by the following simple process. In the 

 autumn, after the leaves have begun to fall, cut ripe shoots of the last 

 summer's growth, and divide them into lengths of six or eight inches, 

 cutting them smoothly at the lower end, just below an eye. Then tie 

 them in bundles and bury them in the earth for the winter in a dry, 

 sheltered place. In the spring, as soon as the soil is in good working 

 order, plant them in rows in the open garden, setting them in a sloping 

 position, with the upper eye on a level wdth the surface, and pressing 

 the ground rather firmly around them. All that remains is to keep the 

 weeds down. The cuttings, or many of them, will root early in the 

 season and form thrifty young plants. The wood is cut in the autumn, 

 because a severe winter might injure it ; and the cuttings are planted in 

 the spring, because, if planted in the autumn, the frost would throw them 

 out of the ground. This, however, may be prevented by a thick cov- 

 ering of dry leaves ; and, if this precaution is taken, autumn planting 

 does ^"ery well. 



jNIany shrubs are raised easily from cuttings of the green or half-ripe 

 wood. Some are propagated much better in this manner than from 

 the ripened wood. Thus Dcntzia gi-acilis., which grows but indifler- 

 ently from the ripened wood, strikes root with the utmost ease from the 

 green shoots. Cuttings of this kind may be made during summer. 

 The tips of growing shoots are preferable, provided the wood ir> ripe 

 enough not to snap ofl' when bent double. Neither should it be so ripe 



