142 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



lay the branch in may be used. Vines may, by means of pots with 

 opening sides, be laid as they are growing in the grapery or against 

 the wall ; and this is frequently done by the gardeners as matter 

 of curiosity mixed with utility. They lay a shoot in this manner 

 in the spring, and when it has rooted and is in full bearing in the 

 fall, they cut it off immediately below the pot, and produce at 

 table a growing tree covered with ripe fruit. The earth, however, 

 in boxes, or pans, or pots, being in small bodies, necessarily dries 

 up sooner than when not so ; and therefore when this method of 

 laying is adopted, great care must be taken to water constantly, 

 so as to keep up the required moisture. And not only does the 

 limb require this moisture to make it root, but, when rooted, the 

 young roots require it to keep them alive. To cause the limb to 

 put forth roots, it is a common practice to prick it nearly through 

 in two or three directions, at one of the joints that are to be 

 buried under ground ; or to cut a notch nearly half way through 

 the limb. At these wounds, matter oozes out which quickly 

 causes the putting forth of young roots. 



204. CUTTINGS are short pieces cut from trees in the month 

 of February. You take a shoot of the last year, and cut it off with 

 a small piece of the preceding year's wood at the bottom of it, if 

 that be convenient. The shoot should be a sound and strong one, 

 and it is not absolutely necessary that it should have a piece of 

 the preceding year's wood. The cutting should have, altogether, 

 about six joints or buds, and three of these should be under ground 

 when planted. The cutting should be fixed firmly in the ground, 

 and the cuts should be performed with a sharp knife, so that there 

 may be nothing ragged or bruised about the bark. As to situa- 

 tion, watering, and the' rest, follow precisely the directions given 

 in the case of the slips. Currants and gooseberries, some apples, 

 and a great number of fiowering shrubs, are universally propagated 

 from cuttings. 



205. BUDS are little pieces taken out from the side of a shoot 

 in the summer, containing a newly-formed bud, which is fixed into 

 the side of a bianch growing upon another tree ; but as buds will 

 be more fully described when I come to the act of budding, nothing 

 more is necessary upon the subject in this place. 



206. STOCKS. — The general way of obtaining fruit-trees of 

 the larger kinds is by grafting or budding ; and this grafting or 

 budding is performed by putting cuttings or buds upon other trees. 



