MOUND-LAYERING. 



39 



When large numbers of plants are desired, aS in commer- 

 cial nurseries, it is often 



^■^vif^' 



j2. Alound-layerin^ of gooseberry. 



necessary to cut back the 

 parent plant to the ground, 

 or very nearly so, for the 

 purpose of securing many 

 shoots fit for layering. A 

 plant which is cut back in 

 the spring will produce 

 shoots fit for layering the 

 following spring ; or some 



species will produce them in abundance the same year if 

 layers of green or immature wood are desired. These pa- 

 rent or stock plants are called "stools " by nurserymen. 



In many species, layerage is performed to best advantage 

 by heaping earth over the stool and around the shoots. 

 This is known as mound ox slool- layering. The shoots send 

 out roots near the base, and straight, stocky plants are 

 obtained. The English gooseberries are almost exclusively 

 pfopagated in this' manner in this country. Fig. 32 shows 

 a row of mound-layered gooseber- 

 ries. The shoots are allowed to 

 remain in layerage two years, in 

 the case of English gooseberries, 

 if the best plants are wanted, but 

 in many species the operation is 

 completed in a single season. 

 Quinces and Paradise apple stocks 

 are e.xtensively mound -layered 

 The practice is most useful in 

 those low plants which produce short and rather stifl 

 shoots. Sometimes these layers are severed at the end of 

 the first season, and the plants are grown in the nursery 

 row for a year before they are placed upon the market. 



As a rule, the best season for making layers is in spring. 

 Rooting progresses rapidly at that season. Many plants 

 "bleed," if layered very early in the season. Mardy 



33. Ll ycniii, pot 



