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Garden Work 
i. By ringing; 2. twisting; 3. notching. They have all 
the same aim in view, viz. to arrest the flow of sap and 
induce the formation of roots at the points where the 
interruption of the sap has taken place. 
Sometimes layering is effected by notching, or making 
an oblique cut partly through a stem, through a joint, and 
fixing a flower pot (which has been carefully halved) round 
the stem. Sandy soil should be used and the plant tied 
securely to a stake and kept watered. This may be done 
even though the branch is a considerable distance from the 
ground. 
Dracaenas are propagated by making a cut into the 
stem, keeping it open by a small stone, then tying some 
moss round below the cut part, and forming a cup round 
the cut with the rest. This may then be filled up with 
sandy soil and moss tied firmly all round. If this is kept 
syringed the roots will soon be emitted. They will be 
seen growing through the moss. The tops may then be 
cut off and potted. 
SUCKERS 
This is another form of propagation which is some- 
times adopted, and consists of taking a shoot which has 
been produced from the base of a plant, under the soil, 
with a piece of root attached to it. A sucker produces a 
plant more quickly and surely than a cutting. There is, 
however, one drawback to the method; the sucker pro- 
duces suckers freely itself. This sometimes becomes a 
source of trouble if the bushes are planted in borders, as 
the suckers are sometimes sent up some distance from the 
plant. The Lilac is frequently propagated by suckers. 
