LA YE RAGE. 



Stiff and hard-wooded plants do not often "strike" or root 

 readily, and in order to facilitate rooting the branch is wounded 

 at the point where a new plant is desired. This wounding 

 serves to induce formation of adventitious buds at that point, 

 and to check the growth of the branch at the tip. It is a com- 

 mon practice to cut the branch about half in two obliquely, on 

 the lower side. This operation is known as " tongueing. " 

 "Ringing" or girdling, twisting, notching, and various other 

 methods are employed, none of which, perhaps, possess any 

 peculiar advantages in general practice. Some propagators cut 

 all the buds from the covered portion. In this case the free and 

 protruding end of the layer is expected to form the top of the 

 new plant. ' ' Arching, " or very abrupt bending, as in serpentine 

 layering, serves the same purpose and is the only attention 

 necessary in most vines. 



When large numbers of plants are desired, as in commercial 

 nurseries, it is often necessary to cut back the parent plant to 

 the ground, or very nearly so, for the purpose of securing many 

 shoots fit for layering. A plant which is cut back in the spring 

 will produce shoots fit for layering the following spring ; or 

 some species will produce them in abundance the same year if 

 layers of green or immature wood are desired. These parent or 

 stock plants are called "stools" by nurserymen. 



In many species layerage is performed to best advantage by 



heaping earth over the stool 

 and around the shoots. This 

 is known as mound or stool 

 layering. The shoots send 

 out roots near the base and 

 straight, stocky plants are 

 obtained. The English 

 gooseberries are almost ex- 

 clusively propagated in this 

 Fig. 21. Mound Layering of Goose- manner in this country. Fig. 



21 shows a row of mound- 

 layered gooseberries. The shoots are allowed to remain in lay- 

 erage two years, in the case of English gooseberries, if the 



