PROPAGATION OF PLANTS Plants are propagated by seed, by run ners, suckers, offsets, dividing the tu bers, layers, cuttings, grafting, budding, inarching, &c. Seeds are gathered when mature, and sown on recently stirred soil, and covered to different depths, accord ing to the size of the seed, the nature of the soil and situation, and other circum stances. Theplants formed by runners are separated from the parent plant by cutting through the runner, and remov ing the young plant, in order to plant it elsewhere. Suckers, slips, or side-shoots from the roots, are separated from the parent plant by being slipped down, or cut off, so as to carry with them a por tion of fibrous roots ..and they are after wards planted in suitable soil, &e. off sets are small bulbs which are produced round the base of larger ones, and, being taken off and planted, become plants. Tubers are underground stems, contain ing leaf-buds ; and these may be sepa rated and planted entire, or cut into as many pieces as there are buds, in either of which cases new plants will be form ed. Layers are branches or shoots of either woody or herbaceous plants, which are bent down, and a portion of their length buried a few inches in the soil ; that portion having been previously wounded by cutting, bruising, or twist ing, which, by checking the descent of the sap, gives rise, after a certain period, to the production of roots. After these
roots are formed, the portion of the layer which has produced them is separated from the main stock or parent plant, and planted by itself. Cuttings are portions of shoots, either of ligneous or herbace ous plants ; and they are made of the young shoots with the leaves on, or of the ripened wood either with or without its leaves ; and after they have, either in a herbaceous state with the leaves on, or with the wood mature and with or with out the leaves, been properly prepared and planted, they form roots at their lower extremity, each cutting becoming a perfect plant. In general, cuttings should be taken from those shoots of a plant which are nearest the soil ; because, from the moisture and shade there, such shoots are more predisposed to emit roots than those on the upper part of the plant. The young or last-formed shoots are to be taken in preference to such as are older, as continuing more perfect buds in an undeveloped state, and a bark more easily permeable by roots ; and the cut ting is to be prepared by cutting its lower extremity across at a joint, the lenticells or root-buds being there most abun dant.