ig6 THE NURSERY-BOOK. 



pot, filled with rich soil, is plunged beneath the layer. In 

 this manner a layer may be rooted and separated even while 

 carrying fruit. Layering in pots is employed only in special 

 cases. 



Green-layering is sometimes practiced upon new and scarce 

 varieties, but strong plants are not obtained unless they are 

 well handled by forceful culture after they are separated. 

 The growing cane is layered in mid-summer, usually by 

 serpentine layering. 



Cuttings are usually employed by nurserymen to propa- 

 gate the grape. These are made in many fashions. In all 

 ordinary cases hard-wood cuttings are made from the ripened 

 canes in autumn or winter when the vines are pruned. It is 

 advisable to take the cuttings before the canes have been 

 exposed to great cold. Select only those canes which are 

 well matured, solid and rather short-jointed. In common 

 practice, the cuttings are cut into two-bud length, the lower 

 cut being made close to the bud. The cuttings will range 

 from six to ten inches in length. Some prefer three-bud 

 cuttings (Fig. 43), but unless the cane is very short-jointed 

 such cuttings are too long to be planted and handled econom- 

 ically. Three-bud cuttings usually give stronger plants the 

 first season because roots start from both joints as a rule. 

 Very strong plants are obtained from mallet cuttings (Fig. 

 45), but as only one such cutting can be made from a cane, 

 unless the cane bears very strong branches, they are not 

 much used. Various methods of peeling, slitting and slicing 

 cuttings are recommended, in order to extend the callusing 

 process but they are not used in common or commercial 

 practice. The cuttings are tied in bundles of 50 or 100, and 

 stored in sand, moss, or sawdust in a cellar, until spring, 

 when they are planted in rows in the open. Some varie- 

 ties, of which the Delaware is an example, do not strike 

 readily from cuttings. Some growers start common cuttings 

 of these under glass in spring. Others bury the bundles of 

 cuttings in a warm exposure in the fall, with the butt ends up 

 and about level with the surface of the ground. This 

 affords bottom heat to the butts and induces callusing. At 

 the approach of cold weather the cuttings are removed to a 

 cellar, or are heavily mulched and allowed to remain where 

 buried. Storing is safer. Some growers obtain the same 

 results by burying upside down in a cellar. These slow- 

 rooting sorts often start well if they are simply kept in a 

 warm cellar but where the buds will not swell all winter, 

 as the callusing is then hastened. At the end of the first 

 season the plants may be transplanted. The plants are 



