74 



Nature-Study Agriculture 



Layering 

 in a box 



Offsets; 

 runners; 

 rhizomes, 

 suckers ; 

 division 



Advantages 

 in grafting 



in the inner layer of bark and so is checked at the girdle, 

 concentrating nourishment at the point where roots are 

 to be produced. 



If branches are too high to be layered in the ground, 

 a box of earth in which to start the new plant may be 

 supported as shown in Figure 50, c. Such a box or pot 

 may also be used for branches at the ground ; then, when 

 roots form, the plant is already potted and is easier to 

 remove. 



Various methods of propagating. Bulbous plants such 

 as tulips and hyacinths form new shoots on their roots 

 which can be separated and replanted. These are 

 called " offsets." 



Plants like the strawberry have creeping branches 

 which send roots down into the earth at intervals, thus 

 starting new plants. Such branches are called " runners" 

 or " stolons" (Fig. 51). 



Rhizomes are underground runners. They are not 

 roots, but are rootlike stems which send up shoots here 

 and there, as in the iris. 



Suckers are young plants that grow from the, roots 

 of the parent. They may be seen coming up around an 

 elm tree. Some blackberries are propagated by trans- 

 planting suckers. Suckers from grafted trees are not 

 good to transplant, for they will be like the seedling 

 upon which the grafting was done. 



Division is a good means of propagating some plants, 

 particularly ferns. A plant is divided through the roots 

 or rhizomes, and the parts are set out as separate plants. 



Grafting and budding. In grafting, a branch several 

 inches long from one tree is inserted into another. If 



