PROPAGATION 59 



are various modifications of this method, and these may be varied 

 to suit individual plants or trees or local circumstances. When the 

 branch to be layered is too rigid to bend down, it may be made to 

 pass through a broken flower-pot or other receptacle, the latter 

 being filled with leaf-mould and sand, and placed on a support. 

 A simple and successful method is to pass the branch longitudinally 

 through two half-round tiles, the space between these being filled 

 with fine sandy soil, and the ends filled with moss to prevent the 

 soil running out ; the tiles are then tied together, and the whole 

 watered regularly. 



LAYERING : (<) TONGl'KING : (/') 



Gootee layering. This mode of propagation has been prac- 

 tised in India and China from early times. It is adopted in the 

 case of trees which are difficult to .raise by cuttings, or to which 

 other methods of layering cannot be applied. The modus openindi- 

 is as follows : Select a firm healthy branch with well-ripened 

 wood ; immediately under a leaf- bud or node, take off a small 

 ring of bark, about one inch wide ; or make a slanting deep cut 

 upwards, placing a sm ill stone or a piece of stick in the groove to 

 keep it slightly open. To this apply a ball of cluyey soil, holding it 

 securely together with coir fibre, tow or moss, bandaging all 

 firmly round the branch. A little above this hang an earthenware 

 pot, and through the hole in the bottom of the latter draw from 



