In the Garden In the very lovely Botanic Gardens at
Trinidad grows one rare tree that virtually defied all efforts at reproduction. The seeds would not germinate, the cuttings would not root, and of the few layers that developed roots most died as soon as the bough joining them to the parent tree was severed. A gardening expert who was trained at Kew Gardens finally, after several experiments, quite overcame the obstinacy of the species. First, instead of using the knife and the more popular method of layering, he used the wire restriction device, and every layer took root ; but these, too, perished when the layered branch was severed. In the sequel a hundred per cent. of successes was registered when the additional safe- guard was tried of a progressive cutting off of the sap from the parent tree. Which is the very best method of dealing with the layered twig at or about the rooting point is a subject of some controversy ; but, as this example from Trinidad suggests, the use of a tight wire band may be found more successful than the slice with a knife, especially in less expart hands. Of course, a good many shrubs, such as the currants or even the hollies and the honeysuckles, will take root without any checking of the sap whatever ; but it is the rarer and usually more difficult shrub that we chiefly desire to reproduce.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
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