470 [ THE VINE. 



vineyard presents the advantage that the layer is in a 

 condition to fruit from the first year, while a cutting 

 planted in the ordinary way will not be able to fruit 

 before the fourth or fifth year. But whether the vine is 

 layered wholly or partly a considerable portion of old 

 wood is necessarily buried in the soil where it may favour 

 the development of root-rot and of other parasitic fungi 

 of the root system, particularly on lands which are not 

 thoroughly drained. 



The Spring or Summer Layer (It. = margotta 

 M.=tarkida) is made from March to June or July. As 

 a rule the layer is made in pots or other convenient 

 receptacle, and consists of a long cane of new wood 

 which is bent down into the pot half filled with good 

 garden soil properly manured. The pot is then com- 

 pletely filled up with soil, and the layer is tied up to a 

 stick, or a stone is placed on the pot to prevent the layer 

 from coming up again by its own elasticity or getting 

 displaced by the action of the wind. Layers made in 

 April or May, during active growth, will root in about 

 fifteen days, but will flag somewhat if severed from the 

 mother plant before five or six weeks. An ideal layer 

 should consist of a long cane of well ripened wood, the 

 junction with the old wood with its thickly set nodes 

 being placed at the lowest part of the bend beneath the 

 soil, and the end of the layer should have at least 

 one good bud well above the soil. However, any branch 

 or cane will root well if kept well moist, and even the 

 new wood which is yet green will not fail to root if 

 layered in June or July. This method of propagation is 

 in favour with gardeners who grow vines in pots for sale, 

 as the rooted layers with their bunches of ripening 

 grapes fined ready purchasers, and when planted in 

 their final quarters establish themselves at once, and if 

 properly cared for will continue to bear fruit. The 

 parsley-leaved vine (Vitis vinifera var. Laciniosa Lin.) 



