178 AMERICAN GARDENER. 



formed with a sharp, knife, so that there may be 

 nothing ragged or bruised about either wood or 

 bark. The time for taking off cuttings is that of 

 the breaking up of the frost. They should be 

 planted in a shady place, and watered with rain 

 water, in dry weather, until they have got shoots 

 several inches long. When they have such 

 shoots they have roots, and when they have these, 

 no more watering is necessary. Besides these 

 occasional waterings, the ground should, espe- 

 cially in hot countries, be covered with leaves of 

 trees, or muck, or something that will keep the 

 ground cool during the hot and dry weather. 



277. SLIPS differ from cuttings in this, that 

 the former are not cut, but pulled, from the tree. 

 You take a shoot of the last year, and pull it 

 downwards, and thus slip it off. You trim the 

 ragged back off; then shorten the shoot so that it 

 have six joints left ; and then plant it and manage 

 it in the same manner as directed for cuttings. 

 The season for the work is also the same. 



278. LAYERS. -You take a limb, or branch 

 of a tree, in the fall, or early in the Spring, and 

 pull it down in such a way as to cause its top, or 

 small shoots and twigs to lie upon the ground. 

 Then fasten the limb down by a peg or two, so 

 that its own force will not raise it up. Then, 

 prune off all the small branches and shoots that 

 stick upright ; and, having a parcel of shoots 

 lying horizontally, lay earth upon the whole, all 

 along upon the limb from the point where it 

 begins to touch the ground, and also upon all 

 the bottoms of all the shoots. Then cut the shoots 

 off at the points, leaving only two or three joints 

 or buds beyond the earth. The earth laid on 4 



