METHODS OF PLANT PROPAGATION 13 



this method are treated as follows : — The branch or 

 branches intended to form the layer are bent down, and 

 crotched sticks are employed to peg them down to the 

 ground. Two or three inches of fine mellow soil 

 should be used to cover a strong bud near the middle 

 of the shoot. In the case of stiff, hard-wooded plants it 

 is a common and good practice to make a cut half-way 

 through the branch on the lower side, obliquely, at the 

 point where it is wished that roots shall form. Spring 

 is the season when layering should be practised, and 

 roots are more readily formed at that time. Shrubs, 

 however, may be equally well layered in the autumn, 

 and carnations, to which this method of propagation 

 is especially applicable, are best layered in July and 

 August, and the layers separated in October. What is 

 known as " mound layering " is valuable in the case of 

 various woody plants, of which large numbers of offsets 

 are required. If a gooseberry bush, for instance, be cut 

 back in the spring almost to the ground, and earth be 

 then heaped over the stool and round the young shoots, 

 numerous roots issue from the base of each of the 

 shoots, and in the course of a year or so the stool may 

 be broken up into a large number of strong young plants. 

 Pot layering or Chinese layering is a process whereby 

 roots are made to proceed from rigid stems by surround- 

 ing them, while in their natural position, with earth or 

 moss. The common practice is to make a small incision 

 in the stem at the point where the root is required, and 

 to place a pot or box which has been cut in two around 

 it, filled with earth. The pot itself should be wrapped 

 in moss to limit evaporation. This method is very use- 

 ful in the case of leggy old indiarubber plants. The pot 

 is attached high up on the bare stem, and after roots have 

 become freely formed the stem is separated just below the 

 pot and the top part replanted in suitable soil. The old 

 base may then be discarded. 



