76 THE BOOK OF THE CARNATION 



each plant is possessed of a nice ball of roots of its own, 

 and is in capital condition to transplant elsewhere to 

 flower. 



PROPAGATION BY LAYERS 



Carnations are very largely propagated by this method, 

 and also Pinks of the Anne Boleyn class, as well as some 

 of the Mule Pinks. The earliest mention of the practice 

 occurs in Parkinson's " Paradisus," in what is the earliest 

 treatise on Carnations extant, where, as " in-laying," the 

 method is detailed with much lucidity. The value of 

 layering consists in the rapidity and the certainty varieties 

 can be increased without weakening the resulting plants, 

 because the connection with the parent is not severed 

 until the scion has roots of its own abundantly sufficient 

 to provide for its wants. A layer may indeed be said to 

 be a cutting supported by the parent plant up to the 

 moment it is able to provide for itself. In making a 

 layer, the operator does not cut the shoot quite through, 

 but as near as may be about halfway, then turning the 

 face of his knife upwards half an inch or three-quarters of 

 an inch in length, more is inimical, splits the stalk in two. 

 The tongue, as it is called, thus formed is gently bent 

 outwards away from the stem, and being inserted to its 

 own depth in the soil and kept in place by a " peg " the 

 operation is completed. A few important points must, 

 however, be noted. Layers invariably produce roots 

 most quickly when the shoots are still soft, and while in 

 this condition all parts of the operation can be best 

 carried out. In firming the layer in the ground, some 

 authorities advise the peg being placed about an inch from 

 the tongue, but the proper position is to insert it exactly 

 at the point the tongue parts from the stem, pushing it 

 obliquely into the ground so as to keep the tongue from 

 being moved. Clumsy operators destroy many layers by 



