PROPAGATION OF PLANTS. 8l 



shrubs of any kind, with always more certainty of making 

 a plant quicker than by the ordinary way of layering the 

 shoot in the soil, because when lifted there is no dis- 

 turbance of the roots. This system of propagating 

 Strawberries has been largely practised during the past 

 ten years in the United States, and is now a favorite 

 method. For details, see Strawberry Culture. 



PROPAGATION BY LAYERING IN THE AIR. 



About twenty years ago I published a method of 

 propagating Geraniums, that I believed originated with 

 me, and which I called, for want of a better term, " Lay- 

 ering in the Air." It consists in tonguing the shoot to 

 be used as a cutting half through with a knife, as in the 

 ordinary layering. The shoot so treated forms granula- 

 tions, or "callus," on the cut surface, and is in a condi- 

 tion to form roots immediately on being detached and 

 put into the earth. 



A year or two ago I bethought myself of my long- 

 forgotten plan of "layering in the air," but this time 

 I improved upon the former way of doing it. In- 

 stead of tonguing the shoot to be used for a cutting, 

 as before, it was merely snapped short off at a point 

 where the condition of the shoot or slip would make it 

 hang on to the plant by the merest shred of bark. Slight 

 as this strip of bark is, it is sufficient to sustain the cut- 

 ting, without any material injury from wilting, until it 

 forms the <; callus," or granulated condition, which pre- 

 cedes the formation of roots. 



The cutting, or slip, may be detached in from ten to 

 twelve days after it has been broken in the manner 

 described, and then potted in two or three inch pots. If 

 watered and shaded rather less than required by ordinary 



