1 30 GARDENING BY M YSELF. 



for three quarters of an inch or more, accord- 

 ing to the size, and on the tipper side. Bend 

 the shoot gently over, and peg it down, with 

 the cut an inch or so deep in the earth. 

 And it is usual to put a bit of stone or stick 

 — an}^ small trifle — in the cut to keep it 

 open. The layers may be made in the mere 

 garden bed, or in small pots sunk up to their 

 rims by the side of the bush. Layers in 

 pots give the strongest plants soon, as they 

 can be set out in the fall with less disturb- 

 ance to their roots, and so get better estab- 

 lished before winter. 



Another .plan, very successful in hot 

 weather, is a sort of air layering. Did you 

 never notice a broken twig, which hanging 

 just by a mere fibre of bark, had hardened 

 and granulated at the broken end, as if all 

 ready to send out roots ? I have, — and 

 wonder now at my own stupidity that could 

 not put two and two together. For that 

 was really an air layer, — only when made 

 on purpose, the branch is cut and wedged 

 open just as for an earth layer. The roots 



