V PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 43 



increase the number of plants from the parent yam— and, 

 consequently, to obtain a much greater yield. This is a 

 case in which natural methods of propagation are made use 

 of by man for his own advantage. 



Propagation by Runners. — This mode of propagation 

 is well seen in the strawberry plant and in some running 

 grasses. A slender branch is sent off from the base of the 

 stem, it runs along the ground, and at its end produces a 

 new plant. The branch withers and dies as soon as the 

 new plant is rooted. Some plants also have creeping stems Creeping 

 rooting all along their under surfaces, and developing new 

 plants from buds on the upper ones. 



Propagation by Suckers. — Suckers are merely modifi- 

 cations of runners ; they are branches, or more properly 

 speaking underground stems, which may be very long or 

 short, given off below the ground, and then, after rooting, 

 they grow up into the air and eventually become indepen- 

 dent plants by the decay and separation of the underground 

 stem which connected them with their parent. The plantain Banana 



/• • 1 r 1 • c suckers. 



and banana are familiar examples of this process of pro- 

 pagation, for they very rarely bear seed, and man is depen- 

 dent on the suckers for the plant to supply the important 

 food borne by them. Botanists make several divisions of 

 suckers and runners, giving them different names according 

 to their characteristics, but for all practical purposes the 

 young agriculturist may consider runners and suckers as the 

 two necessary divisions. 



Propagation by Layers. — In certain instances this pro- Layering 



, . , . , , , , 1 of'ten a 



cess, which is much used by gardeners to propagate plants, natural 

 is a natural one. If branches of some plants by their own P^°"^^- 

 weight or by some accidental circumstances, bend down to 

 the ground and remain still on damp earth, roots will be 

 given off from the underside of the branch, and in time the 

 branch may become an independent plant. This process 



