176 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



it may, through them, resume its interrupted course. 

 A like result follows if a ring of bark is removed 

 from the buried part of the branch or shoot that we 

 wish to take root. The arrested sap produces a ring- 

 shaped swelling on the upper edge of the wound, 

 and from this swelling spring roots. 



"Now let us apply these theoretical principles. 

 If the wood is compact and for that reason rebels 

 against the laws of simple layering, we will take 

 a piece of wire and strangle (that is the word) the 

 branch we are operating upon; that is to say, we 

 will bind it tight, but without breaking the bark. 

 The compression should be made just below a bud 

 or eye, and about midway of the part that is to be 

 underground. This process is called layering by 

 strangulation. 



' ' Or again, still midway of the part to be bedded 

 in the earth, and immediately under a bud, we cut 

 the bark all around the branch without injuring the 

 wood; a second incision is made a centimeter and a 

 half lower down; then tearing off the strip of bark 

 between the two circumcisions, we remove it all in 

 one piece. This method is known as annular inci- 

 sion from the ring of bark thus taken away. 



" Or as a third expedient, still midway of the part 

 to be bedded in the trench, we make with a sharp 

 instrument an oblique incision from below upward, 

 cutting into the wood as far as the marrow. In this 

 way we are enabled to raise a tongue comprising half 

 the thickness of the shoot, and this tongue is held in 

 its lifted position by a small pebble inserted in the 



