196 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



joint, as in cutting the ends of cuttings. This is an 

 essential part of the operation, neglected by many 

 gardeners who have never considered the mode in 

 which cuttings throw out roots. The last mode of 

 wounding or preparing a layer which we shall men- 

 tion, is that of taking off a ring of bark half an inch 

 or more in width, below the part where it is intended 

 the roots should originate. This ring should always 

 be made right across a bud, removing one-half of it ; 

 its use is to impede the returning sap, which it does 

 effectually, and young roots soon protrude from the 

 callosity formed on the upper edge of the bark. 



Whatever mode be adopted, three things are es- 

 sential : first, to bury the shoot at that part where it 

 has undergone the process intended to promote the 

 protrusion of roots, an inch or two in the soil ; se- 

 condly, to bind up the point of the shoot, so as it come 

 out of the earth in as near a perpendicular attitude as 

 possible ; and thirdly to press the earth very firmly 

 to the part intended to root. A further precaution is 

 to peg down the layer with a hooked stick, to prevent 

 it from rising or being disturbed ; but with green- 

 house plants this is seldom necessary, more especially 

 if the soil is loamy and firmly pressed to the layer. 

 Any person may prove the value of pressure, by lay- 

 ing two shoots of the same species in similar soil, 

 and at a similar depth, pressing neither, but well 

 watering each, and then, after the water has subsided, 

 laying three or four bricks above one another over 

 one of the layers. We have seen this tried with 



