204 PLANT PROPAGATION 



first preferred — and sow them thinly in rows side by side in a green- 

 house bed or out of doors. Make careful notes to determine whether 

 or not there are individual differences in favor of one or the other, 

 also whether one set of differences might outweigh the other set in 

 value to a business grower. 



•i. Pricking out. — With small wooden dibble, cut at the end to form 

 a V about one-eighth inch across and one-fourth inch deep, lift seed- 

 linus of begonia, mignonette, pansy, etc., from the seed pans and space 

 them about an inch apart each way in flats filled with loose, fairly rich 

 soil ; water, place on greenhouse bench and shade with newspaper a 

 few days. 



9. Fill flats with soil. Use a spotting board and a dibble to mark 

 holes one to two inches apart ; lift cabbage, tomato, pepper, eggplant 

 or similar sturdy growers from their seed pans or flats and prick them 

 in with the dibber, first making a hole deep enough to hold the roots, 

 second placing the plant in the hole, third, pressing the soil against the 

 roots from bottom to top. When flats are full, place on greenhouse 

 bench, water and shade. 



Laverage 



10. General note. — Outdoor subjects can be treated only during the 

 growing season ; many indoor ones may be used to demonstrate the 

 principles. 



11. Simple layers. — Compare rates of rooting of subjects whose 

 stems are twisted, notched or cut at the nodes with those not so treated. 

 Which makes best plants in least time with various subjects — currant, 

 gooseberry, golden bell, mock orange, deutzia, etc. ? 



12. Tij? layers. — Bury and anchor black raspberry tips and dew- 

 berry canes at various stages of development and note what stage is 

 necessary for securing new plants. Also bury some stems, as in simple 

 layering, to see if they will take root. How many plants can be se- 

 cured from one cane, and in what ways? 



13. Compound or serpentine layers. — Bend last year's canes of a 

 vine so alternate parts each containing a node shall be buried or in the 

 air. Wound the under sides of the buried nodes on some canes, but leave 

 those on others unhurt. Note the time required to secure rooted 

 plants by both methods. Vines to use : Grape, trumpet and Virginia 

 creepers, Dutchman's pipe, Boston and English ivy, etc. 



14. Continuous layers. — In shallow trenches cover shrub 

 branches or vine canes completely except a few joints at the tips. 

 Some rtiay be wounded, as above (11), others not. Use very light soil, 

 or a mixture of moss or muck and soil in some cases, to cover the 

 canes and compare with the ordinary soil of the trench. Snowball, high 

 bush cranberry, low-growing willows, red osier (Cornus stoionifera) 



15. Mound layers. — Have each class, 1, cut back bushes to 

 develop numerous shoots for mound layering the following year; 2, 

 make mound layers of the shrubs cut back the previous year; and, 3, 

 dig and cut apart the rooted layers the next spring. Thus, if the 

 plants are in three adjacent rows, each class will need only one prac- 

 ticum period of two hours to cover the whole method, part of the 

 time to prepare or cut back the subjects in one row. part to bury the 

 stems similarly produced in the next, and part to finish the work. 

 Gooseberry, Paradise apple, quince and shrubs as above (14). 



16. Chinese, air or pot layers. — Notch, girdle or ring stems of 

 leggy or branchy plants in humid greenhouse, bandage with a bunch of 

 wet sphagntim in cotton cloth and keep moist till roots have formed 



