BULBS - LAYERS - DIVISIONS 



99 



plants down severely. Bear in mind that the anticipated shoots 

 must be layered under the surface, so the nearer they are to the 

 ground the better. Layering should commence as soon as the shoots 

 are of sufficient length to permit of it. 



Tip layers. Black Raspberries root easily when the tips of their 

 branches are buried. It is best to prune the long shoots early in the 

 Spring to cause them to branch, thereby obtaining more new plants. 

 (See fig. 44.) This method is known as tip layering. After the 

 layers (obtained by any method) have rooted they are severed from 

 the parent plants. 



Serpentine layers. When the branch of a plant is covered with 

 soil at a number of points, the term serpentine, or compound layer- 

 ing, is applied. It is used very advantageously with vines. 



Continuous layers. When nearly the whole branch is covered, 

 the process is called continuous layerage. This method is confined 

 to a few shrubs and vines which grow readily from buds even though 

 they are covered with earth. 



Air and Chinese layers. With other plants whose branches can- 

 not be bent down to the earth, some method of air or pot layerage is 

 used. Ordinary flower pots are split in two pieces (see fig. 46, G) 

 and placed around a branch. The pot is tied together, an incision 

 is made in the stem and the pot filled with sphagnum moss or soil. 

 It is well to place a match in the cut to keep it open. This method 

 is successfully used on Rubber Plants, Dieffenbachia, Ardisia, 

 Camellia, Dracaena and Grotons when they become too tall and lose 

 their lower leaves. The 

 pot is not necessary; 

 many plants are layered 

 by merely tying a ball of 

 sphagnum moss around 

 the stem which, as be- 

 fore, is injured. Such 

 layers are called Chinese 

 layers. (See fig. 46, A and 

 B.) So soon as roots 

 form, the new upper 

 plant is removed and 

 potted. 



Mound layers. Plants 

 with rather stiff branches 



Which Can hardly be Fig . 47 .-Mound layer of Gooseberry. Note that 



bent down and Covered the shoots have been cut back close to the soil 



. r ;i j / previous to mounding the soil about the plants; 



With SOU are mound lay- each shoot is rooting nicely. 



