KINDS UK STKMS AM) HHANCMKS. 



39 



99. A stolon is a branch wliich iodines on the ground, or })en(ls over to it, ajid 

 strikes root (Fig. 74). Currant-bushes spread naturally by stolons, and so does. 

 Wliite Clover. The gardener imitates the j)roeess where it does ii ^t naturally 

 occur, or facilitates it wlien* it does, by bending branches to tlie ground, ;md 

 jiinning them down, wheTi they strike root where they are covered by the soil, 

 and then the branch, having leaves and roots of its own, may be separated as 

 an independent plant. In this way the gardener multiplies njany plants by 

 layeriiKj which he cannot so readily proj)agate by seed. 



Runner, 



Slicker. 



Stiilim. 



IOC. A Runner (Fig. 74) is a very slender, thread-like, leafless stolon, much 

 like a tendril, lying on the ground, and looting and budding at the p.oint ; so 

 giving rise to a new plant at some distance from the parent, and connected with 

 it during the lirst year. But the runner dies in winter and leaves tiie young 

 plant independent. 'I'he Strawberry-plant affords the most familiar illustration 

 of rminers. Each plant or offshoot, as soon as established, sends out runners of 

 its own, which make new plants at their tip. In this way a single Straw' erry- 

 plant produces a numerous progeny in the course of the summer, and estaLlishes 

 them at convenient distances all around. 



Toi. A Sucker (Fig. 74) is a branch which springs from a parc't .'tern under 

 ground, where it makes roots of its own, win' far hs-r on it rise.'i aivove ground 

 into a leafy stem, and becomes an independem plane whe'iever the connection 

 with the parent stem dies or is cut off. It is by suckers that Rose and l^isp- 

 herry bushes multiply and spread so " ])y the root," as is generally said, lint 

 that these subterranean shoots are stems, and not roots (though they produce 

 roots), will ])lainly '^ppear by uncovering them. 



102. An Offset is a short branch, next the ground or below its surface, like a 

 short stolon or sucker, bearing a tuft of leaves at the end, and taking root where 



