JAN.] THE NURSERY. 53 



Prune honey- suckles and roses, and all other kinds of hardy de- 

 ciduous flowering shrubs that want it, training each with a single 

 stem, and trimming their heads as you shall see occasion ; that is, 

 either to cut out or shorten all straggling shoots, in such manner 

 as you shall see necessary, to keep their heads somewhat to a regu- 

 lar form. 



In open- and settled weather you may now transplant, where ne- 

 cesary, most sorts of hardy deciduous flowering shrubs, both in the 

 nursery order, and for shrubbery plantations, Sec. in a dry soil ; but 

 where the soil is apt to lodge wet, there should not be any planted 

 therein before February. 



Plantations of fruit-tree stocks, for grafting and budding upon, 

 may be made at any time of this month, if mild open weather. 

 Many of those raised from seed, Sec. last spring, or the year before, 

 will be fit for this, digging them up out of the seed-bed, Sec. with 

 their full roots, and let them be planted in nursery-rows, three or 

 four feet asunder, and fifteen or eighteen inches distant from each 

 other in the rows ; and when they have attained one, or two, year's 



growth, in these rows, will be proper for budding and grafting 



See the Nursery ^ in October, for the method of planting ; that of 

 March, for grafting, and July and August, for budding. 



You may still make layers in open weather of many sorts of de- 

 ciduous trees and shrubs that you desire to increase. 



This work of laying down the branches ^of shrubs and trees, to 

 propagate them, is very easily performed ; and there are a great 

 many kinds of trees and shrubs to be increased by this operation, 

 in the manner following. 



In the first place it must be remarked, that the young branches 

 that were produced last summer, are the most proper parts to be 

 layed ; for these will put out roots more freely than the branches 

 that are a year or two older. Observing farther, that many of 

 the shrub kinds branching out near the earth, afford an opportunity 

 of laying them with great facility ; but such as run up with tall 

 stems, and those of the tree kinds, require that some strong young 

 plants, principally deciduous, with stems one, two, or three inches 

 thick, be cut down near the ground a year or two before, to form 

 stools to furnish a supply of shoots near the earth, convenient for 

 laying therein. The ground must be dug about the shrub or tree 

 that is to be layed ; and as you go on, bring down the branches, 

 and fasten them in the ground with hooked pegs, observing to lay 

 down all the young wood on each branch into the earth, covering 

 therewith the body of each layer three or four inches deep, and 

 fastening each also with a peg, if necessary ; and raise the tops up- 

 right out of the earth. 



But in laying some hard-wooded trees and shrubs, it is necessary 

 to slit the layer, by making a gash with a knife on the under-side, 

 slitting it an inch or more upward ; so laying that part in the earth, 

 keeping the gash a little open, which will greatly assist the rooting, 

 by promoting the emission of fibres at the cut part. And this may 

 also be performed to the same advantage in the laying of trees and 

 shrubs in general. 



