LAYERING THw VTlJtfE. 61 



with cuttings, but afterward they will start from between 

 the buds. 



When it has been decided what shoots shall be 

 allowed to remain, then good stout stakes should be put 

 down by the side of each ; and so soon as the shoots are 

 from six to ten inches high, they should be tied up. 

 And at this time a little soil should be drawn into the 

 trench ; enough to cover the vine an inch deep will be 

 sufficient. In a week or ten days an inch or two more 

 may be put on, and so on at intervals of a few days, or 

 at each hoeing, until the whole trench is filled up. If 

 it is filled while the shoots are very young, it will cause 

 the part below ground to rot. Each of the young canes 

 should be kept tied to the stakes, and if a particular one 

 takes the lead and appropriates too much of the sap to 

 itself, it should be checked by pinching off the top. 



The canes nearest the parent vine, and the one at 

 the extreme end of the layer, will usually grow much 

 more rapidly than those between ; if so, they should be 

 checked before they have gone so far as to weaken the 

 other plants. 



Hoe the ground often during the summer, or cover 

 it with a mulch to keep down the weeds. The cane that 

 was cut down to three or four buds should be allowed to 

 produce two or three shoots ; these are to be tied to the 

 stakes shown in the engraving. Next season the same 

 operation may be repeated, and if the vine has grown 

 vei;y strong, two canes may be layered instead of one. 

 After layers have been taken from the vines two or three 

 seasons in succession, it is best to let them pass over one 

 season without taking any layers from them, for if lay- 

 ered every season they will soon become exhausted. 

 Any vine that has a young shoot which can be made to 

 reach the ground may be layered, but it is not advisable 

 to take layers from vines that are planted for fruiting. 



When only one vine is wanted from a plant, then a 

 branch may be bent down into a short trench in the 



