PROPAGATION BY LAYERS. 83 



When the cane is not long enough to reach the place where 

 the young plant is to be established, successive layers may 

 be resorted to, or the grafting of another cane by the whip- 

 tongue system, the layering being performed in the usual way.* 

 Further, it is possible, with the layering method, to change the 

 nature of the vine by grafting a cane from another cepage. 



The ordinary layers made in the vineyard are generally 

 separated from the mother plant when two years old. If 

 this operation is done earlier it produces a check in the 

 growth, diminishing the fructification. In certain parts of 

 the valley of the Rhone this method is used to replace a 

 " miss " by a cane of European vine grafted on an American 

 plant. If the graft is well knitted, and if the roots are 

 carefully removed during the two first years, those growing 

 on the European cane are quickly destroyed by phylloxera, 

 and the new plant lives at the expense of the American 

 graft bearer. It goes without saying that in this case the 

 layer must not be separated from the mother plant. This 

 method also enables nurserymen to obtain a great number 

 of rooted eyes by lifting canes buried during the spring. 

 These rooted fragments or rooted nodes may be grafted 

 with every chance of success. (Cham pin method.) 



(B.) Complete burying of the mother plant. This method 

 may be used to replace u misses " in a vineyard, or to 

 liberate American vines grafted on European stumps. It 

 is generally considered as inferior to all others ; it yields 

 plants of little vigour and very short life. This is the re- 

 sult of the bad distribution of the root system, partly 

 grown on the old wood, and spread over too great a length 

 of cane. Further, it is more expensive than the above. It 

 should only be used when we wish to obtain several plants 

 from a single mother plant, in which case it is better than 

 any other. 



These layers are made in the following manner (Fig. 

 45) : A deep trench is formed reaching from the mother 

 plant to the spot where the new plant is to grow ; the main 

 roots of the stump are cut away to allow it to bend down 

 without breaking ; two canes selected for the purpose are 

 brought down and buried at the bottom of the trench, allow- 

 ing the two extremities to project out of the ground, one 



We may also mention Hardy's system of training the layering shoots along a stake 

 for two or three years, as described in The Australian Garden and Field, 1901. (Transls.) 



F 2 



