always necessary ; for cuttings often succeed 

 when cut and planted in the most careless 

 manner. For instance, with herbaceous cut- 

 tings, an unskilful hand at the hoe in a cloudy 

 day, will in this way propagate some kinds of 

 weeds to a most undesirable extent, doubling 

 and trebling their number where his only in- 

 tention was to destroy them. 



A layer is a cutting which has been prepar- 

 ed one or more seasons previously to being 

 used. A twig growing out of a tree at a point 

 not far from the ground, is bent down and the 

 middle portion of it is buried just under the 

 surface of the soil and fastened there by 

 means of a hooked peg or by a stone or turf 

 placed above it. Success is rendered more 

 certain by checking the downward flow of the 

 sap. This may be accomplished by cutting a 

 slice off the under side of the part of the twig 

 that is placed under ground, or, more imper- 

 fectly, by twisting, bruising, or partially 

 debarking the twig at that point; some re- 

 commend to enter the knife on the under side 

 at this point and split the twig upward about 

 one or two inches, fastening the split open 

 with a little wedge or pebble. 



Trees or shrubs purposely headed down 



