GRAPES. 855 



it three parts full : sink it about two inches below the sur- 

 face of the soil, at two or three feet distance from the stole, 

 according to the strength and length of the layer. Pre- 

 viously to its being laid down, take the shoot firmly in one or 

 both hands, near the bottom ; and give it a twist, half or 

 three-quarters round, till you find it give way by splitting 

 longitudinally along the pith. This will not pass further 

 upwards than the lower hand, and it is not intended it should 

 extend more than a foot or eighteen inches from the stole ; 

 the purpose of which is, to cause the layer to bend nearly 

 flat at the neck next the plant, and to check the too great 

 influx of sap from the stole to the layer when it begins to 

 grow. The shoot must now be bent carefully, and placed 

 in the pot, so that two or three joints remain within it, keep- 

 ing the top as nearly perpendicular as you can ; cover it up 

 with the prepared mould, and press it firmly, to keep the 

 layer from springing out of the pot. It must now be short- 

 ened, leaving two eyes only above the surface, and covered 

 up with the mould round the stole .to the depth of the two 

 inches mentioned before : in like manner proceed till all the 

 layers are put down. 



In the spring, when they have grown nine or twelve inches, 

 they should be staked, tying the two shoots of each layer to 

 the stake, cutting off all the other shoots which are produced 

 upon the bender between the stole and the pot. When the 

 shoots have attained the height of two or three feet, the up- 

 permost shoot must be cut off, leaving the lower one only, 

 training it up from time to time till it reaches the top of the 

 stake, which need not be more than six feet at the most, 

 when it must be stopped : all the tendrils, as they are pro- 

 duced, should 1 be cut off close ; and when lateral shoots are 

 produced, they must be shortened, leaving only one eye to 

 each. When the main shoot has been shortened some time, 

 it will cause two or three of the uppermost eyes to push out 

 into shoots : these must be shortened to two eyes each, 

 which, from the vigour of the plant, will, probably, push 

 these lateral eyes into shoots like the former ; but this will 

 be the means of preserving all the lower eyes, which would 

 otherwise have been converted into branches. When the 

 plants have nearly finished their summer's growth, the mid- 

 dle or towards the end of September, all the laterals which 

 had before been shortened only, should be cut off close to 

 the stem, which will not only give strength to the buds, but 

 admit the sun so as to ripen the wood more perfectly. Whe 



