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MANUAL OF MODERN VITICULTURE. 



transplanted, it is necessary to prune them before planting- 

 out, so as to leave only two tufts of well-constituted roots. 

 These acquire much larger size than if they had all been 

 allowed to remain on the rootling. 



Ordinary layering can also be adopted for filling up 

 vacant places in an old vineyard, or for liberating American 

 canes grafted on European vines. In both these cases the 

 layer has to remain in the place where it is performed. Its 

 execution is shown in Fig. 44 ; after having dug out the dead 



Fig;. 44. Ordinary laj'ering. 



stump and carefully removed all the roots, a trench is opened 

 between the mother plant and the place where the dead vine 

 was growing ; this trench is deep enough to allow the 

 ploughing to be performed in the vineyard without touch- 

 ing the cane (about a foot). A cane sufficiently long is 

 selected in such a position as not to alter the shape of the 

 mother plant after it is cut away. It enters the soil as close 

 as possible to the mother plant, is buried at the 'bottom of 

 the trench, the extremity turned up vertically and tied to a 

 stake, leaving two buds free above the ground. The trench 

 is filled with mellowed soil well rammed against the cane. 



Manure is often put into the trench so as to promote the 

 development of roots. However, it seems preferable to 

 manure only the mother plant the first year, and to manure 

 the layer after it has been separated from the mother plant. 

 One avoids in this way a growth of roots from the mother 

 plant towards fhe trench, which would withdraw assimilable 

 matters before the layer had time to produce roots large 

 enough to allow it to compete. 



