Instructions in gardening for ladies

by Mrs. Loudon

Chinese mode of layering.—The Chinese method of layering, which consists in wounding a branch, and then surrounding the place with moist earth contained either in a flower-pot or a basket, is frequently adopted in the continental gardens; and it has the very great advantage of producing a young tree which will flower and produce fruit while yet of very small size. It is generally applied to camellias, orange-trees, and magnolias; but it will do equally well for almost any other tree or shrub. When a plant is to be layered in this manner, a ring of bark is first taken off, and then a flower-pot is procured, open on one side, so as to admit the branch; and some moss being put at the bottom of the flower-pot, it is filled up with earth, and a piece of wood is placed inside the pot before the open part to prevent the earth from falling out. It may be fastened in its place by wires hung over a branch, or supported by four little sticks, tied to the pot with string. The earth should be very moist before it is put into the pot, and if the season be dry, it may be re-moistened from time to time. When the layer is supposed to have rooted, a cut or rather notch should be made in the branch below the pot, and afterwards it may be cut off, and the young plant transferred with its ball of earth entire to another pot or the open ground. A simpler way of performing this operation is using a piece of lead instead of a flower-pot. A modification of this plan was adopted by Baron Humboldt in South America. He provided himself with strips of pitched cloth, with which he bound moist earth round the branches of several of the rare and curious trees he met with, after first taking off a ring of bark; and when he returned to the same place some time after, he found rooted plants which he brought to Europe.

Cuttings differ from layers in being removed without roots from the parent tree; and as the current of the ascending sap is stopped at once by this separation, they generally require shading, which layers do not; and also, occasionally, what gardeners call bottom heat, to induce them to throw out roots. The branches most suitable for making cuttings are those which grow nearest to the ground, especially those which recline on it, as they have always the greatest tendency to throw out roots; and the side shoots are considered preferable to those which grow erect at the upper part of the plant. The best season for making cuttings is summer, when the sap is in full motion; as the returning sap is then most likely to form the ring or mass of accumulated matter from which the new roots are to spring. It has been already mentioned under the head of layers, that it is from the joints only that roots can be expected to grow; and, accordingly, in making cuttings, the shoot is divided at a joint; and it is reckoned best to choose the joint at the point of junction between the young wood and the wood of the previous season. The cut should be quite smooth; as if the shoot be bruised, the returning sap will not be able to reach the joint in a sufficient quantity to effect the desired end. Some plants are much more difficult to strike as cuttings than others; but some, such as the willow, the currant, the vine, &c., will throw out roots not only from the ring, but from every part of the stem. These plants do not require so much care as to cutting off at a joint; and in fact, will throw out roots from whatever part may be put into the ground, but even they succeed best when properly prepared.

The cutting being taken off, and the division at the joint being made perfectly smooth, the greater part of the leaves should be cut off close to the stem, with a sharp knife; and a hole being made in the soil, the cutting should be put in, and the earth pressed close to its extremity, or it will never strike out roots. This necessity of the part which is to send out roots being fixed firmly in the soil, has been already mentioned with regard to seeds, transplanted trees, and layers; and this necessity exists with equal or greater force with regard to cuttings. When these are made in a pot, the cutting will much more readily strike (as gardeners call its throwing out roots), if it rest against the side of the pot, or even against the bottom.

A cutting of the LEMON-SCENTED VERBENA (Aloysia citriodora),
prepared for putting into the ground.

Cuttings may be struck in the open ground, and in the common soil, without any covering; but these cuttings are only of those plants which strike readily. When struck in pots, it is customary to fill the pots half, or entirely full of silver sand, to prevent the stalk of the cutting from having too much moisture round it. Those cuttings which are most liable to be injured by moisture, such as heaths, &c., are struck in pots filled entirely with sand; but as there is no nourishment to be derived from sand, most cuttings do best with their lower end in earth, and with only sand about an inch, or two inches deep, at the top of the pot, to keep the stem dry, and to prevent it from rotting. The cutting, when prepared, should be buried to about the second joint, and two or three joints with leaves should be left above the soil. A few leaves to elaborate the sap in the case of herbaceous plants, or evergreen trees and shrubs, are essential; for I have known very promising cuttings of petunias, which had been some weeks in the ground, and which had thrown out abundance of roots, entirely destroyed by some snails having eaten all the leaves; and I am told that the case is by no means an uncommon one. Cuttings of delicate plants are generally covered with a bulb-glass pressed closely on the earth, to keep a regular degree of moisture round the plants, and to prevent too rapid an evaporation; but I have found cuttings thus treated very apt to damp off, and have never succeeded in striking them, unless I took off the glass to wipe it, every day. Cuttings of greenhouse plants, I have been told by practical gardeners, strike best when put into the pots as thickly as possible; and as they are generally well watered when first put in the ground, if covered with a close glass, they will frequently not require any watering afterwards. As long as they continue looking fresh, they are doing well; and as soon as they begin to grow they should be transplanted into small thumb pots, and supplied moderately, but regularly, with water; changing the pots for larger ones as the plants increase in size, and according to their nature. Sometimes the pots are sunk into a hot-bed, to induce the cuttings to take root, and this is called applying bottom heat; and sometimes one flower-pot is placed within another a size or two larger, and the outer one filled with water. All these expedients are more or less efficacious; and the great object with all of them, is to excite and stimulate the plant.

Cuttings of the COMMON HORSESHOE, and LARGE WHITE FLOWERED
GERANIUMS (Pelargonium zonale and P. macranthum) prepared
for putting into the ground.