0012 

 8 GUIDE. 



LAYERS. 



[Translator's note: Two kinds of layering are described. The first is the easier 

 method of earthing up a cluster of stems or of shoots growing from a tree stump and 

 allowing the branches to grow roots. The second method is the more familiar one of 

 bending branches down to the ground so that they take root.] 



Layering means inducing attached branches to grow roots by manipulation and 

 special cultivation. When the roots are sufficient to nourish the layered branches, the 

 branches are severed and they will form new trees. 



The purpose is to propagate certain woody plants that don't retain their useful or 

 pleasant qualities when grown from seeds, those that never produce good seeds, and 

 lastly those that take much longer to bring pleasure when grown from seeds than from 

 layers. 



The entire rationale for this procedure is to make the layered branches grow roots 

 and produce new trees endowed with all the qualities of their parent stock, by means of 

 moisture, temperature, proper soil, incisions, or ligatures. 



It's based on many experiments proving that branches of woody plants can grow 

 roots and, similarly, that roots can give rise to branches. 



Trees and shrubs differ in the ease or difficulty with which they can be propagated 

 from layers, which requires growers to use various methods and a variety of techniques. 



The easiest way to layer is to heap up a mound of earth around a cluster of stems 

 of trees or shrubs planted in open ground. 



