PROPAGATION OF GRAPE VINES 293 



to be watered artificially, as well as treated to prevent evaporation. 

 The following winter the cane is raised and a plant made at 

 each node. 



Another use for layering is to fill a vacancy in the row, a cane 

 being* taken from the nearest living vine. In this case the layer 

 must be set in a deep trench so as not to be torn out by the plow, 

 and the layered cane is at once covered in with earth, all but one or 

 two buds at the extremity, where the new vine is desired. Such a 

 layer usually bears the second year and is then detached from the 

 parent vine. 



Growing Vines from Cuttings. This is the prevailing method 

 in this State both to secure grafting stocks and to grow vines on 

 their own roots. In growing from cuttings, different policies are 

 adopted, i. e., placing the cuttings in permanent place in the vine- 

 yard, or rooting them in nursery to be afterward transferred to the 

 vineyard as "rooted vines." First, the various kinds of cuttings 

 will be considered, and their placing mentioned later. 



Growth from Single Eyes. The use of single eyes or single buds, 

 the shortest possible form of cutting, is not large in California, but 

 some growers have reported good results. The method is to pre- 

 pare the cuttings with a half-inch or so of the cane on each side of 

 the bud and plant them carefully, with the bud upwards, in well- 

 prepared soil, covering the cutting completely, but very little under 

 the surface. Success depends upon retention of moisture in the 

 surface soil to induce rooting, and mulching is advisable. This 

 method of propagation is obviously better adapted to nursery than 

 to field growth. 



The Use of Longer Cuttings.* It was formerly considered good 

 practice to leave a piece of old wood attached to the base of the 

 cutting, on the ground that such cuttings always grew. This prac- 

 tice is now very generally abandoned, as the piece of old wood 

 always decays finally, and the decay may spread into the trunk and 

 roots of the vine. A good cutting should consist exclusively of 

 one-year-old wood ; that is, the wood which has grown during the 

 previous season. 



Choice of Cuttings. The vines from which the cuttings are to be 

 taken should be examined while they still hold their leaves and fruit, 

 to see that they are healthy and of the variety desired. Vines which 

 have suffered from drought or disease or which have been defoliated 

 by insects or frost before the wood is mature yield poor cuttings. 

 Wood (canes) from young vines which have not yet borne is often 

 immature, and that from vines which have borne excessive crops 

 is often ill-nourished. Cuttings from either are likely to fail or 

 grow poorly. 



The best wood for cuttings is of medium size and with mod- 

 erately short joints. Very short joints indicate disease and very 

 long joints a lack of nourishment or maturity. 



*Much of the following description of handling cuttings is taken from the 

 versity publication by Prof. F. T. Bioletti, viz.: Circular 225, December, 1920. 



