32 



PROPAGATION OF VARIETIES. 



kinds which do not grow so well from the seed. Certain varieties 

 of native grape, as the Norton's Virginia, which do not root readily by- 

 cuttings, are also raised in this way, and it may be applied to any sort 

 of fruit-tree which it is desirable to continue on its own root without 

 grafting. 



Fruit-trees are generally layered in the spring, and the layers may be 

 taken off well-rooted plants in the autumn. But they may also be lay- 

 ered with success early in July. 



In making layers the ground around the mother plant should be 

 made light and mellow by digging. Being provided with some hooked 



pegs to fasten down the 

 layers, bend down a branch, 

 so that the end may recline 

 upon the ground. Open a 

 little trench three or four 

 inches deep to receive the 

 young wood to be layered ; 

 make a cut or tongue, Fig. 

 20, a, half way through the 

 under or upper side of the 

 shoot, pegging down the 

 branch with the hooked peg, 

 b, to keep it in its place ; 

 press the earth slightly 

 Layering. round the tongue, and, in 



filling in the soil, raise nearly upright the end of the layer, c, which re- 

 mains above the surface of the ground. 



The descending sap, filled with organizable matter, is arrested by this 

 tongue, accumulates there, and the emission of roots speedily takes place. 

 Hinging, wounding, or twisting the limb answers the same purpose less 

 perfectly, and indeed many trees root readily from the mere position of 

 the branches as layers, and the moisture of the soil. 



A tree or plant which is kept for raising layers is called a stool, and 

 is headed down both to facilitate the rooting of the layers and to 

 afford an abundance of shoots near the earth. Shoots of some of the 

 fruit-tree stocks in the English nurseries are pegged down to the surface 

 before growth commences in the spring, covered about an inch deep with 

 soil, and at the end of autumn afford hundreds of plants; almost every 

 bud making a separate root. 



Suckers are shoots sent up from the root, or from portions of the 

 stem below the surface of the soil, which are easily separated from the 

 parent plant. 



Suckers of fruit-trees are frequently used as stocks for budding or 

 grafting upon ; but they are greatly inferior to seedlings for this purpose, 

 as they are always more liable to produce suckers, and they have not the 

 thrifty, vigorous habit, or the same power of forming as good roots as 

 seedlings. Besides this, should the tree from which they are taken be 

 diseased, they will be likely to carry the malady with them. 



Propagating by suckers is an easy and desirable way when we wish 

 to continue a seedling fruit of value on its own root, and some of our 

 common fruits appear to be more healthy and permanent when growing in 

 that way. It is also a mode for increasing the Raspberry ; as is also that 

 of runners, which is a kind of sucker above ground, for the Strawberry. 



