PKOPAGATION BY LAYERING. 



69 



Fig. 62. 

 Pis- 62, Serpentine layer. 



course of one season. This is called serjpentine layering 

 (fig. 62). Tlie Quince^ Paradise^ and Doucain stocks, 

 where raised in large quantities, are propagated ^ 



in a different way from that described. The pro- 

 cess requires much less labor ; and where plants 

 root so freely 

 as they do, it Y^ 

 answers every 

 purpose. 



We will take 

 a plant of the 

 quince, for ex- 

 ample, and, in 

 the spring, before growth commences, we cut it down 

 nearly to the ground, leaving four or five buds at its base 

 (J., fig. 63). During that season, a number of vigorous 

 shoots will be made. The following autumn or spring the 

 earth is drawn up aroimd the base of the plant, so that 



the crown where it 

 was cut will be 

 covered, and, con- 

 sequently, the base 

 of all the shoots 

 for several inches 

 in height. Dur- 

 ing the next smn- 

 mer's growth every 

 branch is suffi- 

 ciently rooted to 

 be separated and 

 placed in nursery 

 rows the following 

 spring. This is the 

 way to obtain strong stocks ; for the cutting back of the 

 mother plant produces very vigorous shoots the first 



Tig. 63, Mound layering or banking n 

 at which the mother plant was cut back. 



