58 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. beneath, and plant it forth". Other expedients there are, by twisting 

 -^"^^^^ the part, or baring it of the rind ; and if it be out of reach of the ground, 

 to fasten a tub or basket of earth near the branch, filled with a succulent 

 mould, and kept as fresh as may be. For cuttings, about the same 

 season, take such as are about the bigness of your thumb, setting them 

 a foot in the earth, and near as much out. If it be of soft wood, as 

 Willow, Poplar, Alder, &c. you may take much larger truncheons, and 



° There are various ways of layering trees, by which they may be multiplied. In order 

 to raise great quantities, a sufficient number of trees should be set, in order to be headed 

 down for stools. The ground, previous to planting, should be double dug ; and the 

 distances the trees ought to stand from each other should vary according to the size, height, 

 or manner they are intended to grow before they are layered. The autumn after planting, 

 each tree should be headed to within a few inches of the ground ; and the summer following 

 it will afford you plenty of young shoots proper for layering in the autumn. Nevertheless, 

 in many trees, it will be the best way to wait two years before you layer them, as each 

 stool will afford you ten times the number of layers for the purpose ; and the shoots being 

 then many of them side-shoots, and weaker than the strong shoots from the stool the 

 autumn before, will, for the most part, more readily strike root : for it is often observed, 

 that in very vigorous and strong shoots, of one year's growth, after they have been layered 

 a twelvemonth even by slit-layering, the end of the divided part has only swelled, and 

 struck no root ; whereas smaller branches on the same tree, in the same space of time, 

 have struck good root, and commenced plants fit to be taken off and removed to the nur- 

 sery. If the tree has grown from the stool two years, it must be splashed, to bring the 

 head and branches down to the ground : all branches which cross, crowd, or any ways 

 incommode each other, must be taken out, the ground should be hollowed, and the head 

 of each branch brought into the hollow, pegging it down firmly with a strong peg. The 

 ends of the young shoots must be also shortened ; for one eye only, for the most part, 

 ought to be out of the ground, if you can tell how they will fall, as it will be a safer way 

 to do it before the slit is made than afterwards. Then the slit, or twist, or whatever 

 method you choose, must be entered upon ; and when all the branches have undergone 

 the operation, the mould must be carefully brought in among them, filling all the inter- 

 stices, and levelling the whole so that an eye of each may just appear above ground ; and 

 if any shoot has been left too long, it may now be shortened, holding it steady with the 

 left thumb and fjnger, and cutting off an eye above the ground with the right. When 

 the stool is completely layered in this manner, proceed to the next ; and so on till the 

 whole be completed. By waiting two years after the heading of the plant for the stools, 

 stools which perhaps would hardly have afforded you six plants, will now yield sixty, or more, 

 which is a sufficient encouragement for patience ; nay, it is what ought to be practised by 

 nurserymen, or gentlemen who want to raise large quantities of trees for sale, or to be 



