OF PROPAGATION BY LAYERS AND SUCKERS. 209. 



the branch of a plant cannot be conTeniently bent 

 downwards into the earth ; in such cases, the earth 

 may be elevated to the branch by various contri- 

 vances, as is commonly done by the Chinese, {fig. 

 22.) When this is done, no other care is necessary 

 than that required for layers, except to keep the earth 

 surrounding the branch steadily moist. 



Suckers are branches naturally thrown up by a 

 plant from its base, when the onward current of 

 growth of the stem is stopped. Every stem, even the 

 oldest, must have been once covered with leaves; 

 each leaf had a bud in its axil ; but, of those buds, 

 few are developed as branches, and the remainder 

 remain latent or perish. When the onward growth of 

 a plant is arrested, the sap is driven to find new out- 

 lets, and then latent buds are very likely to be deve- 

 loped ; in fact, when the whole plant is young, they 

 must necessarily shoot forth under fitting circum- 

 stances ; the well-known effect of cutting down a tree 

 is an exemplification of this. Such branches, if they 

 proceed from under ground, frequently form roots at 

 iheir base, when they are employed as a means of 

 propagation ; and, in the case of the Pine-apple, they 

 are made use of for the same purpose, although they 

 do not emit roots till they are separated from the pa- 

 rent. Gardeners usually satisfy themselves with tak- 

 ing from their Pine-apple plants such suckers as are 

 produced in consequence of the stoppage of onward 

 growth by the formation of the iruit : but these are 

 few in number, and not at all what the plant is 

 capable of yielding. Instead of throwing away the 



