70 



CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS. 



the smaller one, placed inside, has its top edge level with that of the 

 larger; then fill all around the smaller pot with sand. Put a cork in the 

 hole of the smaller pot and fill it with water. After all the sand has been 

 well moistened, insert the small cuttings in the sand-circle between the two 

 pots. Keep the smaller pot full of water and be sure the drainage hole of 

 the larger pot is kept open. This will keep the sand evenly and continu- 

 ously moist. The outfit can be kept in a sunny window or other warm 

 place until the cuttings have rooted. 



Transplanting Cuttings. When the cuttings, either of soft or hard 

 wood, have made some leaf-growth in the sand-pot, or in the boxes pre- 

 viously mentioned, they should be carefully taken from the sand and placed 

 in small flower pots, or at greater distances apart in other seed-boxes, using 

 such prepared soil as has been described for the growth of seedlings. In a 

 few weeks they will be ready to transplant to open ground if that is their 

 destiny. Farther discussion of this operation will be found in a later 

 chapter on planting. 



GROWTH OF PLANTS FROM LAYERS. 



A layer may be defined as an unsevered cutting because, aside from the 

 fact of immediate severing, the method of multiplying plants in this way is 

 so similar to the ways with cuttings. It is relatively a much more trouble- 



How to make a Layer. 



some process and is therefore resorted to by experienced growers only 

 with those plants which are found to be difficult to root from cuttings. 

 Beginners resort to it more widely because they distrust their ability to cut 

 loose from the parent stem. Layering is usually done by taking a long 

 shoot and bending it to the ground. A slanting cut is made about half 

 through the shoot from the top, and it is then bent a little to one side and 

 pinned down in a slight furrow in the ground. A piece of wire can be bent 



