PROPAGATION BY SUCKERS, SLIPS, ETC. 239 



are cut off close to the stool, to make room for a second succession of 

 layers, which are made annually from the upright shoots produced 

 during the preceding season. In the case of layers taken from plants 

 in pots, the stumps left after the layer is taken off should be cut to a 

 leaf-bud, in order that a shoot may be produced to supply the vacancy 

 made in the head of the plant by the removal of the layer. 



Propagation by Suckers, Slips, Offsets, Runners, and Simple 

 Division. 



A sucker is properly a shoot sent up from the underground part of the 

 stem, from a latent bud there existing, or from an adventitious bud on 

 that part of the stem, or on the horizontal roots. Many herbaceous 

 plants are propagated by root-suckers ; a number of shrubs, such as 

 the lilac, the spiraea, the raspberry, &c., and some trees are occasionally 

 so propagated, such as the white, trembling, and balsam poplars, the 

 English elm, &c. The suckers of herbaceous plants are chiefly taken off 

 in spring and autumn, when they are in a growing state, and those of 

 ligneous plants late in autumn, when the sap is dormant ; but suckers 

 of both kinds may be taken off at any season, provided those 

 which are in a growing state are put into a moist atmosphere and 

 shaded. 



Stem- suckers or slips may be described as shoots which proceed 

 from the collar, or above it from the lower part of the stem, and which 

 have few or no roots, unless the stem has been earthed up. Heading 

 down plants, or otherwise rendering the top inadequate for the due 

 appropriation of the supply of sap furnished by the roots, favours the 

 production of stem-suckers. The tendency is also induced in conse- 

 quence of any sudden check given to the foliage, such as that arising 

 from excessive drought, or the depredations of insects, more especially 

 if the roots are at the same time growing in rich, moist soil. These 

 shoots, being drawn or slipped off, are planted and treated as cuttings, 

 and they are found to root more readily than shoots taken from the 

 plant at a greater distance from the root. To produce slips on the 

 lower parts of stems they may be cut down, and in the case of plants 

 in pots stimulated by an extra supply of heat and moisture. The 

 stumps of pine-apple plants are sometimes so stimulated after the fruit 

 has been gathered, and slips or suckers are in that case produced by 

 the buds which had remained dormant in the axils of the leaves. When 

 the bases of such plants as the banana, are treated in a similar manner, 

 similar results will follow; and by destroying the growing point 

 or central bud of such plants as Yucca, Dracaena, and Zamia, and also 

 of Mammillaria, and other Cactaceae, and of all bulbs, slips, suckers, 

 or offsets will be produced from the latent buds in the axils of the 

 leaves. By earthing up, these shoots may generally be made to emit 

 roots before being separated from the parent plant ; or they may be 

 slipped off without roots, and treated as cuttings. Cuttings or layers 

 from the branches of coniferous plants sometimes continue growing a 

 number of years before they throw up a leading shoot; but this result 

 may be obtained much sooner than it otherwise would be by pegging 



