PKOPAGATING BIENNIALS. 



53 



and pull off the lower leaves ; then fix upon a joint about the 

 middle of the shoot, and, placing your knife under it, slit the 

 shoot from that joint, rather more than half way up, towards the 

 joint above it. 



Now make an opening in the earth, and lay the stem, and slit 

 or gashed shoot, into it, and peg it down ; taking care to raise 

 the head of the shoot as upright as you can, that it may grow 

 shapely ; then cover it with the new mould, and press the mould 

 gently round it. Do this by each shoot till the plant is layered — 

 that is, till every shoot is laid down. They must be watered 

 often in dry weather, but moderately, not to disturb or wash 

 away the soil round the layers. In six weeks' time, each gashed 

 or slit shoot will have rooted, and become a distinct plant. They 

 may be taken away from the old parent stem in September, and 

 dug up with a ball of earth round each root, to be transplanted 

 into the plots or borders where they are to remain. 



Carnations, pinks, sweet-williams, double wall-flowers, &c, are 

 the flowers most deserving of layers. 



Piping, which belongs almost exclusively to carnations and 

 pinks, is a most expeditious mode of raising young plants. 



Take off the upper and young part of each shoot, close below 

 a joint, with a sharp knife, and cut each off at the third joint, or 

 little knob ; then cut the top leaves down pretty short, and take 

 off the lower and discolored ones. When you have piped in this 

 way as many as you require, let them stand a week in a tumbler 

 of water, which greatly facilitates their doing well. Indeed, I 

 never failed in any pipings, slips, or cuttings, which I allowed to 

 soak and swell in water previous to planting. When you plant 

 the pipings, let the ground be nicely dug, and raked very fine ; 

 dibble no hole, but gently thrust each piping half way down into 

 the soft earth, slightly pressing the earth round each, to fix it in 

 the bed. Water them often if the weather is dry, but moder- 



