418 PROPAGATION OF THE SPECIES. CHAP. IX. 



be protruded from between the wood and bark a 

 sort of protuberant lip or ring formed from the 

 proper juice, and from which there will spring a 

 number of young shoots. And if a root is taken 

 and lopped it will in like manner send out new 

 roots. But the formation of the root in the case of 

 the slip is effected in the same manner, the mois- 

 ture of the soil encouraging the protrusion of buds 

 at and near the section ; the bud that would have 

 been converted into a branch above ground being 

 converted into a root below. 



SECTION VI, 

 Layers. 



Artificial. INSTEAD of cutting off a portion from the parent 

 plant altogether, in the manner of a slip, gardeners 

 frequently select a branch and bend it down to the 

 ground, till a part of it can be laid in the soil ; the 

 summit being still exposed to the air, and the whole 

 being yet connected to the stem by the inferior part 

 of the branch. When the branch is thus treated, 

 the portion that is laid in the soil strikes root and 

 elevates a new stem from the original summit of 

 the branch, which is now denominated a layer, and 

 converted into a new individual by detaching the 

 branch wholly from the original stem. This mode 

 of propagation is practised upon trees that are de- 

 licate and which cannot readily be propagated by 



