266 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



Autumn cuttings ought to be taken off with 

 a small portion of two-year-old wood when the 

 shoots are well matured. They should then be 

 planted, as above, in a shady situation, and 

 protected from severe frost in winter. They 

 may remain in the open ground till they make 

 good roots, or may be taken up in spring, 

 potted, and plunged in a hot-bed to hasten the 

 production of roots. 



Bearing branches, and even large limbs, will- 

 strike root with facility, and are sometimes 

 employed instead of cuttings of the shoots, 

 especially when the object is to obtain a tree 

 which will bear in two or three years. They 

 should be inserted in autumn in good soil, to 

 the depth of a foot or so, according to the size 

 of the branch and the depth of the soil; large 

 branches should be supported in an upright 



Fig. lu49.— Mulberry, (i.) 



position by a stake. At planting, the laterals 

 ought to be shortened back a little, and if pos- 

 sible to a wood-bud at the base of a young 

 shoot; at the same time a good shoot should 

 be preserved as a leader. Afterwards a good 

 supply of water should be given, and when the 

 branch has taken good root a portion of the 

 lower branches should be removed every year 

 in order to form a clean stem. 



By far the most common mode of propaga- 

 tion is by layering the young branches, either 

 in autumn or spring. Layers may be severed 

 from the tree in the autumn of the year after 

 they are laid down, if sufficiently rooted. 



Grafting when the sap begins to flow in 



spring is rarely successful with this tree, owing 

 to its bleeding; but it is probable that success 

 would be ensured, as in the case of the Vine, by 

 taking of? the scions before vegetation com- 

 mences, and working them when the leaves are 

 developed and capable of appropriating the 

 superabundant sap. On the Continent, flute- 

 budding, ring-budding, and budding with a 

 dormant eye are successfully employed, and 

 are considered the best modes of ensuring the 

 objects of grafting. Flute -budding is per- 

 formed when the sap rises in spring, the other 

 two operations before the descent of the sap in 

 autumn; and if the bud succeed, the portion of the 

 stock above it is cut off in the following spring. 



