290 HOME FLORICULTURE 



able to get any satisfaction out of it, if you have good 

 taste, is by covering it up as quickly as possible Even 

 if it were possible for us to construct a rockery that 

 would imitate nature's work well, such a construction 

 would be out of place in a small yard. A rockery — one 

 of nature's, at least — suggests wildness and seclusion, 

 and you don't expect to find these in a front yard not 

 fifty feet square. 



I do really hope that no reader of this book has 

 ever had the "Gipsy Kettle'' craze. If he or she has, I 

 trust they have recovered from it long ago, and that the 

 kettle has been consigned to the oblivion of the back 

 yard, where it always belonged. The sight of a dinner 

 pot painted a fiery red, and dangling from three sticks, 

 with a poor, down-hearted little plant in it, has often 

 made me feel like committing trespass. No one ever 

 saw a plant growing well in one of these abominations, 

 and it is not at all to be wondered at that the plant 

 wanted to die, and did die. 



Layering as a method of propagating some kinds of 

 plants which do not root readily from cuttings is to be 

 recommended. Take a branch and bend it down to the 

 ground, giving it a sharp bend that will crack it at the 

 place where it comes in contact with the earth, or take 

 a sharp knife and cut it about half through on the 

 underside at this point. Fasten it by pegs, or crossed 

 sticks, so that this cut or fractured part will stay where 

 you put it, and cover with soil to the depth of about 

 two inches. Set a stick by it, and tie the end of the 

 shoot to it, in an upright position. You will under- 

 stand that the shoot which you are attempting to root 

 must be left attached to the parent plant. This fur- 

 nishes life to it while it is forming roots of its own. 

 The break, or cut, partially obstructs the flow of sap. 



