206 AMERICAN VINES. 



etc.), and it is said that the quality of the wine in those dis- 

 tricts results from that method of culture. Sometimes the 

 layering is done annually, and all over the vineyard, as in 

 Champagne (Marne) ; at others only partially, as in Bour- 

 gogne, Ermitage, etc. In the latter case the whole stump is 

 layered when the vines become weak, and the layers are 

 heavily manured. The motive for layering in Champagne 

 is to bring the pruning wood close to the soil, and conse- 

 quently the grapes, and also to develop the roots in the super- 

 ficial layers of the soil. 



From numerous studies and comparative information that 

 we have been enabled to gather, we are of opinion that it is 

 not an indispensable operation for the improvement of the 

 quality of wines; besides, the secondary aim of layering 

 (suppression lof the lengthening of the bearing- wood, close- 

 ness of the grapes to the soil, etc.) may be obtained without 

 having recourse to this process, the details of which we will 

 not discuss now. We believe that in vineyards planted with 

 grafted American vines this method will be discarded. 



But, should we desire to have recourse to it with grafted 

 American vines, the operation is possible, as seems to result 

 from trials made in this direction. The liberation of the 

 scion is, it is true, possible with grafted vines which are 

 completely buried when young (one to two years old), but 

 the abundant growth of roots and their vigorous develop- 

 ment on the scion is not to be feared if the vines are older 

 and the knitting perfect. In layering, by completely bury- 

 ing the stump (verified by experiments), vines of three or 

 four years old or more, the liberation of the scion and the 

 indirect diminution of vigour of the stock are not to be 

 feared. We may therefore, if layering is regarded as an 

 indispensable operation (Champagne), practise it, only start- 

 ing it on knitted vines three or four years old. The roots 

 growing annually on wood of the year layered, do not attain 

 very great development, for they are generally destroyed by 

 phylloxera. Layering, in soils containing a high percentage 

 of soluble limestone, can but favour adaptation. In the chalky 

 soils of the Charentes, grafts on Riparia remain green if a 

 few rootlets are left on the scion; those growing on the 

 layered wood, which always remains weak, attenuate chlorosis. 



'Trials on layering by complete burying or by simple 

 layering were made at Ermitage, C6te-R6tie, and different 

 parts of C6tes-du-Rhone. They show the possibility of the 



