Nongsang Jiyao (Vol. 2)

Cut off three to five inches from the tip of the branch, bend it down to the empty space on the ground often used, and plant it. One may bend several branches according to one's wish. First, dig a trench in the ground about five fingers deep, lay the branches inside, and use hooked pegs to pin them down if the branch is short, use two; if long, use three. Keep them suspended so they do not touch the soil. Afterward, the buds will grow upward like the teeth of a fine rake. On the horizontal branch, keep one bud every five inches and peel off the rest these can be used to feed small silkworms. By the fourth or fifth month, on a sunny day between midday and early afternoon, take warm, muddy soil from both sides of the horizontal branch and pile it over the branch to form a ridge. The horizontal branch will then become a buried root. By evening, water the roots the buried roots will grow whiskers overnight. Or, from the spring equinox of the following year until autumn, these buds will all become new trunks by the tenth month.