SELECT LISTS OF PLANTS; 307 



of each layer, then some of the strongest shoots may be laid in a 

 shallow trench, as shown in figure 104. Select the largest cane or 

 canes as the case may be for layers, and cut it back to six or seven 

 feet, if it is longer ; then cut the other canes back to within three or 

 four buds of their base. In spring, after the buds begin to swell, layer 

 the cane as follows : Dig a shallow trench four to six inches deep and 

 of a sufficient length to receive the cane ; now bend it down and fasten 

 it in the trench by hooked pegs. The cane may be bent in almost any 

 direction from the parent stock most convenient, but it should be laid 

 flat in the bottom of the trench. The layered cane may remain in this 

 position uncovered until the new shoots appear along its entire length^ 

 and if allowed to grow every bud will produce a shoot and a plant, but 

 it is better to rub off at least one half of the buds and raise a less 

 number of stronger plants. When the young shoots have grown to 

 be five or six inches long, a little soil may be drawn in and the layered 

 cane covered with an inch or more of soil, and a small stake placed by 

 the side of each shoot, to which it should be tied later in the season. In 

 the accompanying illustration the layer is shown in the trench as it ap- 

 pears when the young upright shoots are a foot or more in height, also 

 the roots as they appear later. The shoots (B, (7,) growing from the 

 main stem may be preserved for layering the following season, or for 

 bearing f rait. In the fall the layered cane is dug up and divided into 

 as many plants as there are upright shoots, each with the roots at its 

 base. The principal advantage of layering as a mode of propagation is 

 that certain species and varieties, which are not readily propagated by 

 cuttings, may be made to produce roots on layers. 



Grafting the Grape is a very ancient mode of propagation, and is fully 

 described by most of the old Roman authors of works on agriculture. 

 The cions may be inserted by any and all the different methods practised 

 in grafting woody plants cleft, triangular, side, tongue and splice, and 

 even by in-arching and approach. The most usual method is to insert 

 the cion in the crown of the plant below the surface of the ground, tying 

 it in with bass or other similar material, and then banking up with earth 

 about the cion ; no wax of any kind is used in the operation, the earth 

 being sufficient to exclude air and prevent drying. The proper time or 

 season for grafting is still as it has been for thousands of years a moot 

 point among vineyardists. The old Romans could not agree as to the 

 best time for grafting the Grape in the vineyards about Rome ; for while 

 Julius Atticus said that the time for .grafting was from the first of Novem- 

 ber until the first of June, Columella objected to this prolonged season 

 and thought the better time was in spring after the cold weather is past. 

 The same difference of opinion exists among vineyardists at this day, 

 probably because climate as well as experience differ. My own expe- 

 rience is in favor of early grafting either in the fall or winter, then pro- 

 tecting the cions from frost either by covering with an inverted flower 

 pot and straw, as I described many years ago in the "Grape Culturist," 

 or by merely covering with a few forkfuls of coarse stable manure. In 



