68 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



should be thinned. They can be planted out where 

 they are to bloom in autumn or spring. Or seed may 

 be sown under glass in March, to give bloom the same 

 year. 



The propagation ot all varieties grown tinder names, 

 and, indeed, of any sorts that the grower wishes to keep 

 true to form and colour, is by layering. All the grassy 

 side-shoots previously alluded to can be layered in 

 August, and the process is simple. The grower slices 

 the small leaflets from a short length of stem about three 

 inches from the parent plant, cuts half-way through the 

 shoot as though he were going to sever it, then changes 

 the direction of the knife and runs the blade through 

 the centre of the stem in the direction of the tip of the 

 shoot to the length of an inch ; he then withdraws the 

 knife. By this act he makes a slit in the shoot without 

 separating it from the plant. A small pebble may be 

 slipped in to keep it open. Each shoot is then depressed 

 and the slit portion of the stem pegged down in a small 

 mound of sandy soil put there for the purpose of receiv- 

 ing it. Such is layering, and any amateur gardener may 

 succeed in it with very little practice. 



Roots will form in and around the slit, and by mid- 

 October they will be so numerous as to form a small 

 mat of fibres. The shoots will no longer need support 

 from the old plant, and may be cut away from it. 



The young plants procured by layering will be better 

 than their parents a year later if all has gone well with 

 them. Specialists often put them in small pots, and 

 winter them in unheated frames on a bed of ashes. 

 They then get larger plants, but a sharp watch must be 

 kept for leaf spot. Amateurs would be well advised 

 to plant them out, as the plants will probably remain 

 cleaner than in frames, and there is not likely to be any 



