[f. LAYER sb. 3.]
1. Gardening. a. intr. To bend down ‘layers’ to the ground and cover them partly with earth so that they may strike root and propagate the plant. b. trans. To propagate by ‘layers.’ c. To make a layer of.
1832. Planting (L.U.K.), 27. The root which produces the young shoots for layering is called the stool.
1841–60. T. Rivers, Fruit Garden (ed. 9), 4. To make this emission of roots more certain, the stem may be tongued, as usual in layering.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl., 144. Preparation should be made for striking pinks, and layering carnations.
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 252/1. If a healthy shoot can be layered and struck.
1891. T. E. Kebbel, Old & New Country Life, 213. Cutting and ‘layering’ the stiff whitethorn hedges.
2. Of crops: To be laid flat as by wind or rain in consequence of weakness of growth.
1882. Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 851. It is on this that the upgrowth of ‘layered’ Wheat depends.
1890. Carter’s Seed Catal., 1 Sept., 35. The Goldthorpe Barley is remarkable for stout long straw, rendering it less liable to layer in rainy weather than other Barleys.
1891. Times, 10 Oct., 12/4. The layering and twisting of the corn rendered the use of machines impossible.
