132 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



namely : September, October and November. But with 

 amateurs, who have but a plant or two of some favorite 

 variety, and who wish to safely increase it, or to the flor- 

 ist wishing to make the most of some valuable importa- 

 tion, this practice, as yet little used, is likely to prove of 

 ^ome benefit, particularly with such plants as the Varie- 

 gated-leaved Geraniums, like " Mrs. Pollock," " Happy 

 Thought," " Mountain of Snow," etc. Layering in the 

 usual way, by bending them down to the ground, is, of 

 course, in plants of that habit of growth, all but imprac- 

 ticable. To take off cuttings would not only enfeeble the 

 plants, but the prospect of rooting these cuttings in hot 

 weather would be nearly hopeless ; so a compromise is 

 made by a method which, for want of a better term, we 

 call "layering in the air." The shoot is "tongued" in the 

 manner of an ordinary layer. This has the effect to arrest 

 the upward flow of the sap at the incision, which, of 

 course, acting to some extent as if the shoot had been 

 taken off, induces a branching out below the " layer," 

 providing shoots for further operations. But the effect 

 on the vigor of the plant is much better than if the layer 

 or shoot had been detached ; for, by the time it takes to 

 become hard and form a callus, the shoots branching out 

 below the cut are fit to supply the loss of foliage sustained 

 when the layer or cutting is detached. The cutting or 

 *' layer" is in condition to be cut off in five or six days 

 from the time it has been tongued, and will be found to 

 be not only healed up, or callused, and in such a condi- 

 tion that it will quickly emit roots, but the whole cutting 

 presents a well-ripened,, firm condition, not easily de- 

 scribed, but readily detected by the practical propagator. 

 When detached, these should be treated in all respects as 

 ordinary cuttings, duly watered and shaded for a few 

 days until they strike out roots, when they are potted off 

 in small pots in the usual manner. In wet summers we 

 find that many of the plants of the Variegated Zonal Gera- 



