105 
GARDENING AS A SCIENCE. 
No. V. 
All the processes of propagation by art (seed-culture being exclusively the 
method adopted by nature) are dependent upon one general principle, vary it how- 
one may. Propagation by cuttings is the simplest and most ready process, — it is 
speedily effected ; but a great many of our choicest plants cannot be so obtained 
with either certainty or facility. The next step, therefore, and one which in a 
degree is similar, is effected by layering. It is more than probable that the 
discovery of this practice was made by observing the roots produced, occasionally, 
from branches of some shrubs which take a declining or horizontal position very 
near the surface of the ground (as for instance, those of the common laurel, even at 
the distance of an inch or more above the earth). Be this as it may, it has been 
observed that a shoot bent down or curved, and let into the soil at its curvature, 
will frequently produce roots, and thus gradually form a plant, independent of 
its parent. 
There are some prejudices concerning layering, however, which it will be right 
to remove before we allude to the theory. It has, for instance, been asserted, and 
believed by many, that the elegant and fragrant ornament of the winter garden, 
now called Ckimonanthus fragrans^ formerly known as Calycanthus prcecox^ can be 
raised only by layers of the year-old wood, deeply cut through nearly two joints, 
and left in the ground during two years. Now, we assert, that by the following 
method, a considerable number of young plants can be obtained by cuttings yearly. 
Chimonanthus is quite hardy ; but in order to promote the object in view, let 
one be retained in a pot, the more bushy the better, and preserved through the 
winter in a dry, sunk, brick pit, open and sloping to the south sun. By the middle 
of April, a great number of young green shoots will be developed all over the plant, 
some of them two and three inches long. 
Prepare a propagation pot thus : — sift through an iron, fine-meshed sieve, a 
quantity of the best black heath-mould ; put the rough and fibrous part over half 
an inch of broken crocks at the bottom of the pot, to serve as drainage ; these will 
fill it nearly half way : upon this stratum lay the screened soil, mixed with one- 
third of silver sand, so deep, when gently shaken and levelled, as to be within an 
inch and half of the rim. On this heath-soil put about three-quarters of an inch of 
the pure silver sand, and soak it thoroughly with water Take off any required 
number of cuttings just above their junction with the old wood ; trim with the 
sharpest knife two or three of the lowest leaves (being careful not to touch the 
cuticle), cut each across close below the lowest joint, and plant with a slender 
setting-stick in contact with the side of the pot, so deep as nearly (i. e.> within 
g^th of an inch) to rest on the heath-soil. 
vol. ix. — no. ci. p 
