PROPAGATION BY LA YERS. 



235 



what is technically called a tongue (fig. 182, a), and the shoot being 

 bent down and its point turned up, the wound is kept open as at b ; 

 the shoot being kept down by a hooked peg, or by a portion of a twig, 

 first twisted to render it tough, and next doubled, as at c ; one or more 

 buds being left on the layer, d ; and the wound being kept open by the 

 bent position of the shoot. When the shoots are small or brittle, in order 



Fig. 182. 



Fig. 183. 



Layering with the tongue made in 

 the under-side of the shoot. 



Layering with the tongue made in 

 the upper side of the shoot. 



Fig. 184. 



to lessen the risk of breaking them by tonguing below, the incision is 

 made above, and the tongue kept from uniting by giving the layer a 

 twist when pegging it down, as shown in fig. 183, in which e is the 

 tongue made in the shoot before being laid down, /the position taken 

 by the tongue after the layer is fixed in its place, and g the peg which 

 keeps the layer down. The dotted 

 line in this and the preceding figure 

 indicates the surface of the soil. Layers 

 are always buried in the soil, and se- 

 cured there, and the soil pressed firmly 

 against them. The plant furnishing the 

 shoots which are layered is called a 

 stool, and as it generally furnishes a 

 number of shoots, these are laid down 

 radiating all round it, as in fig. 184, 

 and the soil formed into a circular basin, 

 the better to retain water about the 

 rooted parts of the layers. Layers 

 that are difficult to root are laid into 

 pure sand with good soil beneath, as is done with cuttings difficult to 

 strike ; and the shoots laid down and layered are commonly shortened 

 to one eye above the soil, in order that there may be only one stem to 

 the plant to be produced. (See figs. 182 and 183.) 



A stool with several of tfte shoots 

 layered. 



