FRUIT GARDEN. 225 



the holes, and press the ground closely about the 

 plants. They must now be covered with hand- 

 glasses, shaded in hot weather, and watered and 

 ventilated occasionally and moderately. In August 

 the glasses may be dispensed with, and in October 

 the cuttings should be transplanted to the nursery. 



3. Of propagation by Layers. This mode was 

 probably suggested by observing the habits peculiar 

 to some trees and shrubs (as the laurel and the cur- 

 rant), of pointing their branches to the earth ; where, 

 finding an habitual moisture, they strike root, and 

 become distinct plants. In imitating this natural 

 process, the artist notches the lower side of the 

 branch he employs, buries it in the earth three or 

 four inches deep, and keeps it down by a wooden 

 crotchet. As this is done before the descent of the 

 sap, the notch operates like a dam or obstruction 

 to the descending juices, and forces them into a 

 bulbous form and granular substance, whence are 

 emitted a mass of roots necessary to the infant 

 plant. When these are sufficiently formed, that 

 part of the branch which binds them to the stem is 

 severed, and the layer taken up and transplanted. 



4. Of propagation by Suckers. This mode is never 

 employed but to obtain a supply of stems, on which 

 to ingraft dwarfs and espaliers, and is, of course, 

 confined to the Paradise and Creeper varieties. All 

 that it requires is to dig up the plants, to give a por- 

 tion of root to each, to shorten the stems to a fourth 

 or a half of their natural length, and to set them 

 out in nursery rows. 



5. Of propagation by Scions. These are parts of 

 living trees, which, when inserted in others of the 

 same nature, identify themselves with them, and 

 grow as if on their parent stems. The objects to 



inserted at the sides of pots, so as to touch them, they seldom 

 fail of becoming rooted plants. T. A. Knight succeeded well 

 with the mulberry in this way." Encyclopaedia of Gardening, 

 p. 444. 



