THE GARDEN PRIMER 



ground, are more familiar ones perhaps, the former 

 indeed being regular "walking" plants, journeying 

 along from season to season by means of their runners, 

 which creep out and root to form new plants. The 

 berry canes root at the nodes of the stems without such 

 special appendages, and do not as a consequence 

 travel so fast. 



The operation of layering depends upon the tend- 

 ency of plants to produce roots from what is called the 

 "cambium zone," or layer, of their stems — that layer 

 of tender tissue between the bark and the inner "wood, 

 along which the nutritive juices flow. As a matter of 

 fact roots are produced by stems ordinarily, and not 

 stems by roots, though we are not in the habit of think- 

 ing of plant growth as progressing thus. Commonly roots 

 are supposed to give rise to stems, but they do not. 



A root may appear anywhere along a stem, but 

 the most favorable place to invite root formation by 

 covering the stem with earth, is at the nodes; just as 

 at this point growth of a branch above ground may be 

 most confidently expected. Young branches are usually 

 chosen for layering, because they are more pliable and 

 easily bent down; and they may be removed from 

 the parent plant when they have rooted without affect- 

 ing it as much as the sacrifice of heavier growth would. 

 The season of greatest activity is most favorable to the 

 speedy rooting of layered stems — so of course spring 

 or early summer is chosen for the work. 



There are, generally speaking, four methods or 

 forms of layering, though some differences in detail 



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