70 CUTTINGS AND LAYERS. 



eight iuches in length. These shonhl be made in the fall and be 



Fig. 54. 



planted before the ground freezes; or be tied in bundles of 

 twenty-five and preserved by burying in soil where there will be 

 no standing water; or in a cool, moist cellar, in sand. In the 

 spring they are planted in rich, moist soil, with the upper bud 

 just at the surface of the soil. 



In planting, the main condition of success is to press the soil 

 very firmly about the base of the cuttings. Cuttings planted in 

 the fall should be covered with some mulchy material to prevent 

 their being thrown out by the frost. Most of the common kinds 

 may be propagated in this way. The Delaware, and a few others, 

 however, fail to root from long cuttings and must be grown by 

 short cuttings. 



Tlie short cutting consists of a single bud and from two to three 

 inches of wood, cut in various ways. The most common form 

 is shown in the above figure, No. ^4. These cuttings must be 

 rooted in sand and by the aid of artificial heat. They are made 

 in the winter and put in beds or boxes of sand the cuttings being 

 one or two inches apart, and the boxes or bed having bottom lieat; 

 that is, with hot water or steam heat or fermenting stable manure, 

 under them. The conditions under which they are naost success- 

 fully rooted are, a temperature of the soil or sand of fifty or 

 sixty degrees and that of the atmosphere forty or forty-five de- 

 grees. When well rooted, the cuttings are transplanted to boxes 

 of soil; or, if the danger of frost is past, to the open ground. 

 Short cuttings make better plants than tliose from long cuttings, 

 if they are properly treated, as the roots all come out from nearly 

 the same point, very much like those of seedlings. 



Layers. — Layering the Grapes is done during the summer, when 

 it is called a summer layer, or in the spring, when it is called 

 a spring layer. A summer layer consists of a shoot of 



FlK. 55. 



the present season's growth, bent down early in July and cov- 

 ered "viih six inches of moist soil. Before covering it is best to 



