138 JULY. 



are sufficiently advanced in growth ; the new plants 

 from those early layers will be more vigorous, and 

 better able to endure the severity of winter, than 

 those of a later season. In detaching them, it will 

 be necessary to cut them close under the joint from 

 which the root has been produced, and from which 

 the tongue had in the first instance been cut ; the 

 young plants may now be potted, and with the shel* 

 ter of a frame, will in a few days be sufficiently 

 established to bear exposure in the open air. In the 

 space of a few weeks it will be found that layers 

 thus treated, will have formed a quantity of root 

 from the other half of the joint, where they had been 

 attached to the parent plant ; and they will not only 

 be equally sound and healthy, but much more luxu- 

 riant than plants produced by piping. 



The operation of layering is very simple, and is 

 done by first stripping the leaves from the second 

 or third joint of the intended layer, then introducing 

 the blade of a very sharp penknife at about a quar- 

 ter of an inch under the joint, and cutting halfway 

 through the layer up to the joint, but not into it ; 

 the knife is then to be drawn out, and the tongue 

 so produced, cut away neatly under the joint, but 

 so as not to wound it, or the layer will not root. 

 The future fibres or roots of the new plant proceed 

 from the joint itself, therefore any injury to it will 

 prevent their formation. The old mode of cutting 

 up through the joint is not only useless but injurious, 

 causing an unsoundness and canker,* which, al- 

 though the layers may have rooted, will probably 

 destroy them during the winter ; the layers are then 

 to be pegged down, (with care not to crack them 



* For this reason, plants produced by piping are preferred, being 

 more healthy and sound. . 



