146 SYLVICULTURE IN THE TROPICS n . 



ii 



The cutting is laid horizontally and almost covered 

 with earth, the slit being kept above the surface of the 

 ground. The earth is pressed down and well watered. 

 Sometimes the cuttings consist of several nodes, and 

 are put in like other cuttings, one or two nodes being 

 kept above ground. 



Layers are not much in use for forest work, and, if 

 used, they are more generally raised in the field on the 

 spot where they are intended to grow into trees. But 

 it may occur that they have to be raised in the nursery. 

 The most usual method of layering consists in bending 

 down the branch of a tree or a stool-shoot and of 

 burying part of it underground in order to get roots to 



develop in that portion. Sometimes, if the branches 

 are very elastic and the ground soft, it is necessary to 

 peg them down (Fig. 46). All leaves should be stripped 

 off except at the end of the shoot which appears again 

 above ground. In order to stimulate the production 

 of adventitious roots it is usual to cut a slight nick into 

 the under side of the shoot, just above (i.e. in the direc- 

 tion of the parent tree) the place where it is intended 

 that the roots shall appear (a on Fig. 46). 



Another method of layering, called " pot-layering," 

 is employed for branches which are either too high up 

 a tree or too brittle to be bent into the ground. In 

 this method the soil is held in position round the portion 

 where it is intended that the roots shall spring, by 



