INOCULATING. 37 



in water containing a few drops of muriatic acid, germinate 

 still more suddenly; and I find it stated on good authority, 

 that seeds one hundred and twenty years old, which were 

 brought by Boose from the Bahamas, and had resisted every 

 effort to make them vegetate, were yet made to germinate by 

 steeping them in a weak solution of muriatic acid. Boyse, 

 of Prussia, has accelerated the germination of seeds by 

 moistening with malic acid, (cider.) 



When seeds are to be transported to distant climates 

 by sea, it is recommended to preserve them in new and 

 finely-powdered charcoal ; or they may be immersed in a 

 thick solution of gum arabic, and after being dried, they 

 may be closely corked up in glass vessels. Lastly, packing 

 seeds compactly in layers of sugar, is found to be an excel- 

 lent mode of preservation. 



LAYERS are the limbs or suckers of trees, bent down 

 without being separated from the parent tree, and covered 

 with soil ; their extreme ends only being left out : thus 

 buried, they will soon strike root, generally ; some partic- 

 ular kinds of trees, however, with extreme difficulty : such 

 must be tongued an operation which consists in cutting 

 the layer half off, below an eye, and splitting it up an inch, 

 or more ; the cleft to be kept open by a small wedge, and 

 buried beneath the surface. This operation should be 

 performed in spring; and the plant, when well rooted, may 

 be separated in the autumn or spring following. 



CUTTINGS. There are many kinds of trees which may 

 be raised from cuttings. Cuttings should generally be from 

 eight inches to a foot in length, and cut off at bottom 

 close below an eye, and planted in a humid soil, two thirds 

 of their length beneath the surface, and the ground trodden 

 hard. With some particular kinds, however, it is necessary 

 to square the bottom of the cutting, and to press it hard 

 down on the bottom of a pot. Other kinds must be plant- 

 ed in pure sand, and protected from the sun till rooted. 

 They require artificial heat in the soil, and a confined at- 

 mosphere, which moderates their transpiration. 



SECTION VIII. INOCULATING. 



Inoculating is the operation of transferring any particu- 

 lar and desirable variety of tree upon the stock of an infe- 

 rior or wild variety. The operation is principally practised 



