152 



FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



and then place a layer of earth over them. This 

 method of growing a new plant is called layering.* 



12. If, instead of allowing a gooseberry branch to 

 stoop to the earth and root itself, you cut off six or 

 nine inches of ripened wood and plant it after the fall 

 of the leaf, you will probably find that it takes root. 

 There is enough ripe sap in the wood to heal the 

 wound and to throw out roots. Plants grown in this 

 way are said to be grown from slips or cuttings. 



13. In all the cases I have given, the stem or 

 branch has grown in the air ; but sometimes a stem 

 does not rise into the air, but burrows in the ground 



14. How underground stems make new plants. 



Dig up a common bracken and you will see this 



burrowing stem. You 

 see, too, where it is 

 sending up shoots to 

 form new plants. The 

 sucker thrown up by a 

 rose-bush is at first 

 similar to a burrowing 

 stem, but, after travelling 

 a little way from the 

 main stem, the sucker 

 leaves the ground and 

 becomes a new plant. 

 The burrowing stem, on 

 the other hand, after 

 throwing up a new plant. 



A native rush showing 

 burrowing root. 



* The formation of roots will be more certain if a slight cut or twist be 

 given to the part thus buried. The sap checked at the cut is rich in the 

 formative matter that heals a wound or ma.kes a root. In this case it 

 does both. 



