PROPAGATION OF PLANTS 



165 



fli 



two buds each (Fig. 65), tie in a bunch, and bury six 

 inches deep, butt ends up, in a well-drained spot in the 

 school garden. 



As soon as the ground can be worked in the spring, 

 set your cuttings slantingly, about six inches apart, in a 

 row in the propagating bed (see Chapter XXII). They 

 should be pushed down into the soft, fine earth, so that 

 the top bud is flush with the surface, and then covered 

 with an inch of sifted loam, leaf mould, peat, or street 

 sweepings. The buds will readily push 

 through this, and it will retain mois- 

 ture. If given good care, they will be 

 strong enough to transplant to the 

 place where you wish to have them 

 grow permanently the next spring. 



Layers. — You may save from one to 

 two years in the growth of your grape- 

 vine by obtaining permission to make 

 a layer of one of the canes still attached 

 to the vine. A layer is formed by 

 bending down a vigorous young shoot, 

 pinning it securely in a little furrow 

 in the ground, and covering it with 

 three or four inches of soil. Roots 

 will start along the covered part of 

 the stem and leaves and branches from 

 the tip, and with the help of the parent ^,^^^ ^,.^ ^^^^^ Cuttincs 

 vine for the first season you may have 



a strong young vine equal to a two- or even three-year-old 

 cutting. If it be impossible to bend the branch down to 

 the ground, you may put the tip through the hole of a 



