34 THE EHODODENDBON. 



cover any portion of the old wood with the moist 

 earth, and to secure the branch in position : roots will 

 soon be protruded, and the second year the branch 

 may be severed from the parent stock, to become an 

 independent plant. The production of roots may be 

 greatly facilitated by making an upward cut one 

 half through the branch where it is to be buried 

 deepest in the earth, in the ordinary manner of 

 layering: the flow of sap is in a measure thus 

 arrested. 



These layers, if made in spring, will in two years 

 be very strong, and ready to remove ; in some cases 

 a single season may be sufficient for them, but 

 ordinarily two years are required. The only atten- 

 tion necessary is to keep the branches in place by 

 strong pegs, and the soil moist. 



By layering the branches, tall, ungainly plants 

 may be made in time fine specimens. The long, 

 straggling branches should be bent down and firmly 

 pegged at even distances all around the plant : they 

 will root, and the bending of the branches between 

 the old plant and the layers will facilitate the pro- 

 duction of buds ; or, in gardener's parlance, the old 

 wood will break, and the bare places be filled with 

 new shoots, and the plant will become of a bushy, 

 symmetrical shape. 



CUTTINGS 



Should be made of the half-ripened wood of the 

 growing shoots. They should be inserted in silver 

 sand, or peat and sand, and covered with a bell-glass. 



