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REPRODUCTION OF PLANTS. 
Another mode by which trees extend themselves from their first station, is by 
the points of their lower branches resting on the ground ; these strike root, and 
thence send up a new birth of stems. This most frequently happens among trail- 
ing plants, as the bramble, &c. Another manner of extension is presented by the 
Banyan tree ( Ficus Indica ), which becomes enlarged without the assistance of either 
seed or suckers. Roots are produced from the under side of the lower branches ; 
these hang dangling in the air for months before they reach the ground ; this at 
last they penetrate ; and become stems to a new head of branches. An old tree of 
this sort is a most magnificent object ; forming concentric corridors over a great 
extent of surface, not more beautiful than useful in a tropical climate. 
All these instances may be called natural reproduction ; to which may be added 
the wonderful property of the leaves of some plants which, when fallen to the ground, 
put forth roots and become perfect plants. This phenomenon is exhibited by the 
Echeveria, malaxis, gloxinia, and others. 
What remains to be advanced will be concerning artificial propagation. The 
first to be noticed is the expedient of propagating plants by layers : this is performed 
by simply bending a branch or shoot down into a hollow made in fresh broken up 
soil, confining there by hooked sticks, and covering it slightly with earth. It is 
usual to make some sort of incision on that part of the shoot which is buried, and 
which induces the exsertion of fibrous roots, which when sufficiently numerous and 
established in the soil, become the roots of the young plant, which then may be 
separated from the mother plant. It is by this means that the major part of 
ornamental shrubs and exotic trees are raised in public and private nurseries, when 
seed cannot be had, or if the kinds do not succeed by cuttings. 
The shoots of many plants readily strike root and are propagated by cuttings. 
This is an easy and convenient process, and answers with many hardy, as well as 
tender exotic plants. Some practical judgment is required, as well in choosing the 
cuttings, as in placing them in suitable soil and in a proper temperature if they be 
exotics. There are, however, a good many estimable plants which cannot be 
readily propagated by either layers or cuttings. In such cases other expedients are 
had recourse to ; and these are the various methods of budding and ingrafting. 
The practicability of these manoeuvres depends on the congeniality of the respective 
kinds to be by these operations united. Their sap, membranes, and natural consti- 
tution must be similar, without which no intimate interjunction can take place. 
But as there are many inferior species and varieties of useful plants which serve 
well for stocks on which to graft superior sorts, the practice of grafting is of the 
greatest use in the business of propagation and culture of plants, whether for their 
fruit and flowers. And when the common modes of budding and grafting fail (as 
they sometimes do in the case of exotic trees), new plants are obtained by a particular 
method, called a inarching.” By this plan, neither is the stock cut over, nor the 
shoot to be worked upon it, separated from its parent ; but bringing the two in 
contact, and disbarking each at the junction, and binding the wounded surface 
closely together, a union takes place : after which the head of the stock is pruned 
off, and the inarched shoot is separated from the mother, being no longer dependent 
thereon. 
