82 



OPEKATIONS OF GARDENING. 



PART I. 



very essential that the soil be frequently watered, and never 

 allowed to become dry and hard. What Mr. Kivers enjoins with 

 regard to the layering of Koses may, no doubt, be considered 

 applicable to all layered plants : " Have the tongue at the upper 

 part of the shoot, so as not to be in the part which forms the bow, 

 as it is of consequence that it should be within two inches of the 

 surface, so as to feel the effects of the atmospheric heat. Unless 

 this is attended to, the roots will not be emitted quickly."* 

 A modification of the above process, represented in Fig. 13, I 



have found attended with 

 great success in layering 

 some kinds of Koses and 

 other plants, the boughs 

 of which are too rigid to 

 be bent down : 



Procure a flower-pot 

 which has had part of its 

 side broken out, make a 

 tongue in the branch to 

 be layered, as before di- 

 rected. Kaise the flower- 

 pot up so that the branch, 

 passing through the 

 broken side, may have its 

 tongued part just about 

 two inches below the 

 13 - level of the soil, when 



the pot is filled in. Keep the flower-pot permanently in 

 this position by some support placed beneath it; insert a 

 piece of tile in the pot where the side is broken away, 

 and then fill in with a mellow soil composed of leaf-mould and 

 sand, which must be kept constantly moist. 



For layering any herbaceous plant which roots quickly, such as 

 a Carnation, an ingenious plan is given in * Le Bon Jardinier : ' 

 A piece of oiled paper is folded round the stem to be layered, 

 so as to form a funnel, and held together with a couple of pins. 

 Soil is inserted into this, and retained therein by moss thrust 

 into the mouth and kept constantly moist. 



* 'Eose Amateur's Guide,' p. 153. 



