August 15, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
131 
a trellis on the back wall were covered with large fruit nearly 
ripe. The next division is planted with young Vines, which 
are in a vigorous state (the old Vines being still retained till 
the young ones fill the house). They embrace all the leading 
sorts in cultivation. The end division is a Peach house and 
late vinery combined, Both the Peach trees and the Vines 
were carrying good crops, considering that this arrangement 
seldom if ever answers well. Behind this range are potting 
and other sheds. Succession Pine pits, Cucumber and Melon 
pits and frames, occupy the Melon ground. 
In closing, we cannot but congratulate Mr. Talbot, the 
respected proprietor of Margam, in possessing such an 
interesting place. He has always been a liberal promoter of 
horticultural improvement, and it is gratifying to know that 
he has around him in such rich measure and in such a peculiar 
form the means of ministering to his cultivated taste. We 
would also compliment the head gardener, Mr. Muir, on the 
manner in which the place is kept, and on the successful way 
in which he manages a department of horticultural work so 
much out of the range of the experience of gardeners in 
general.—A, PETTIGREW, Castle Gardens, Cardiff. 
LAYERING. 
THE system of propagation by layers commends itself to the 
owners of woodlands as being at once a cheap, sure, and expe- 
ditious method of filling up blank spaces throughout their 
hardwood plantations. At a comparatively trifling cost, and 
in an incredibly short time, a straggling coppice may by this 
method be completely filled up without any outlay except for 
labour ; and the growth of such layering will far surpass that 
from ordinary planting, inasmuch as the vigour of the well- 
established stool is at once imparted to the new shoots, which 
receive immediate benefit from the abundant root-growth of 
the parent. 
It is not intended in the present paper to enter fully into 
the principles of layering, which would necessitate an ex- 
planation of facts belonging to the science of vegetable physi- 
ology, but to dwell more particularly upon the practice. 
The method of arresting the sap in its descent by layering 
the gardener avails himself of in numberless instances. He 
propagates his Carnations, Pinks, Roses, and a number of 
other plants by making an upward cut about half the depth 
of the joint or node, and fixing the cut part by pegging or 
otherwise in soil favourable to its striking, by which means 
the latent fibre developes its roots. As the juices of the plant 
exude at the point of partial severance they form a spongy 
mass of cellular matter, which is technically termed caillus, 
and from which the roots proceed. 
But though this practice has long been a common one with 
gardeners and nurserymen, its adoption to any great extent 
by the forester is still an event of rare occurrence. Yet the 
possibility of its being successfully and almost universally 
applied to hardwoods upon most soils renders it deserving of 
careful consideration. 
As a consequence of its continued connection with the 
parent stool the layer is not so entirely dependant upon the 
season as is a transplant; and on account of its rapidity of 
growth it is much sooner out of the reach of ground game, 
and beyond the destructive powers of Briars and fast-growing 
weeds of various kinds, And as the peg and covering of soil 
fix the layer firmly in the ground, thus preventing all the evils 
of rocking by wind which so often proves fatal to young trees, 
the system is admirably adapted to the seaside and to other 
situations of exposure. Moreover it is applicable to almost 
every kind of hardwood, including the Oak, Ash, Sweet Chest- 
nut, Elm, Alder, Birch, Lime, Plane, Poplar, Hazel, Mountain 
Ash, and Willow. 
The methods of layering vary according as they are applied 
to nursery stock or carried out in the woods themselves. In 
)the nursery, where good soil and careful cultivation afford 
facilities for the production of an abundance of small shoots 
which may be layered for future transplants, it is customary 
to select those of one year’s growth, and to layer as many of 
these as possible around the stool. 
One mode in use among nurserymen differs slightly from 
that adapted to the majority of hardwood plants. ‘This is 
termed hillock layering, and is often applied to the Apple, 
Plum, Quince, Hazel, Magnolia, and Fig. By being cut low 
during the previous winter the latent buds near the surface 
develope into shoots, at the base of each of which it is cus- 
tomary to raise a hillock of soil. By pinching off the tops of 
the shoots they are induced to throw out numerous rootlets 
during the following summer. 
Multiple layering may be resorted to with the Vine, Fig, 
Lapageria, &c., by laying one of the last year’s shoots in a 
trench and covering its whole length to near the extremity 
with fine soil. Every joint or node may thus by careful treat- 
ment be made to produce a separate plant. 
As instances of the nursery practice of layering for futuze 
transplants we may select the Elm and the Lime. In the case 
of the Elm plants are first set out in beds at from 5 to 6 feet 
apart; at the end of the third or fourth year these are cut 
over like osiers to within three or four eyes, and then layered. 
immediately the shoots ripen in the following autumn. The 
land being thoroughly cleaned and well pulverised the shoots 
are bent down and covered with 3 or 4 inches of fine soil, 
and also pegged when necessary. They may be detached the 
following autumn by being cut away with a very sharp knife 
and then planted out in the nursery, great care being taken not 
to injure the roots during removal. The stool should after- 
wards be carefully and evenly dressed back. In this way each 
summer’s shoots may be layered at the end of the autumn. In 
dry weather the transplants should receive liberal waterings. 
To prepare lines for layering in the nursery they should be 
cut over very near the surface of the ground. At the end of 
the first year bend down and fix the shoots as in the case of 
the Elm, by which means they will be ready for removal by 
November, As soon as the one crop is cut away the next may | 
be layered to replace them. To secure a liberal crop of shoots. 
for layering the stools should be kept clean, and occasionally 
well dressed with a liberal supply of good compost or vege— 
table mould, adding some sharp sand in cases where the soil 
is deficient in silex. By this treatment after the end of the 
third year from sixty to seventy piants may be produced froin 
a healthy and vigorous stool, and these will generally attain a 
height of 2 feet by the time they are removed. If planted out 
in good nursery soil at distances of 2 feet by about 20 inches 
they will in two years be nearly 6feet high. By transplanting 
them in the nursery every second year, and giving them ad- 
ditional space at each removal, lines nay be grown to a great 
size, and afterwards be planted out with perfect safety. 
For plantation layering the shoots should be allowed to com- 
plete their second year’s growth, when the soil around the 
stool should receive a good forking or loosening. For every 
shoot to be layered a small trench should next be opened in 
the direction ofits length, and to a depth of from 4 to 6 inches. 
If the branch will bend easily. into its new position without 
cutting this may be done, but if not give it a slash with the 
knife upon its under side, taking care to keep the bark whole 
upon its upper surface ; a hooked peg from 6 to 8 inches long 
may next be driven into the ground to secure the layer, and 
some good soil trodden down upon it insures an erect position 
for the head of the layer, and cut off the top above the first 
bud. Such layers will sometimes make a growth of 4 feet the 
first season. 
The time for severing the layer from its parent stool mus’ 
depend very much upon the quality of the soil, upon the season, 
and upon the size of the layer itself ; as the poorer the soil and 
the larger the layer, the longer the time required to insure its 
complete establishment, and vice ver'sd. But in ordinary cases 
it may be cut away at the end of the second year, when only 
one round of layering is required. If necessary, the same 
shoot may be again layered at the end of two years, and so on 
in succession until the whole vacant place is covered, the 
final cutting away of the first shoot being delayed until the 
last layer has become well established. 
Where the original stool is fixed in tolerably good soil the 
layering from it may be extended over rocky surfaces, espe- 
cially with the Oak, where there is very little soil, by loosening 
the face of the rock and insuring for the layer a sufficient 
| covering of earth. 
Remunerative coppice may be reared upon this system of 
planting or fillimg up much more cheaply and expeditiously 
than by any other method. As an illustration, we will suppose: 
a piece of land to be planted with hardwoods, triangularly 
placed at distances of 20 feet, and the intermediate spaces. 
filled up with Larch or other nurses. At the end of the second 
year cut back all the hardwoods. Two years after this ib 
would be possible to layer many of the new shoots to advan- 
tage, and this may be done at once wherever there are blank 
spaces. But, as a rule, it will be better to allow these to grow 
on for another seven or eight years, and then again cut back. 
the whole, removing at the same time such of the nurses as 
