238 AGRICULTURE. 



I. Simple Layering. — Directions for layering : (a) 

 This is ordinaiily done by merely bending down any 

 one of the lower side shoots, placing it in a slight depres- 

 sion, pegging it down wiili a forked stick, and covering 

 it with a few inches of mellow soil. In a dry season 

 it will be necessary to mo'Sten this soil, and mulch it 

 with dry earth or grass. 



(^) Under favorable conditions roots will form at the 

 buried node, and a new plant may be secured by separat- 

 ing the rooted shoot from the old plant. If more than 

 one plant is desired, bury as many nodes as the old 

 plant will sustain. 



2. Mound Layering. — A very simple process 

 called mound layering is practiced where a num- 

 ber of new plants are desired from a single 

 parent. 



Directions for mound layering: (a) The parent plant 

 is cut off at or near the surface of the ground before 

 growth begins in the spring, and is called the " stool." 

 By the following spring many shoots will have been 

 produced. 



{h) The stool and the base of the shoots are mounded 

 up with soil to the depth of several inches. Roots will 

 be formed at the underground nodes of these the same 

 summer (Fig. 78). 



{e) In autumn, or the following spring, the newly 

 rooted shoots may be removed from the stool and trans- 

 planted as individual plants. 



(r/) The same stool may be repeatedly used, if well 

 cared for by thorough cultivation and liberal applica- 

 tions of stable compost. 



Any low, stubby plants — as, the gooseberry, or even the 

 quince — may be advantageously propagated by mound 

 layering. 



