248 Vineyard Culture. 



This method of renewal and of keeping up the vine- 

 yard, offers the following advantages : 1st. The vacant 

 spaces are very quickly filled up without its being ne- 

 cessary to obtain rooted plants. 2d. A crop is obtained 

 much quicker than from a new plant, for the propa- 

 gated shoots often produce grapes the very first year, or, 

 at the latest, the second year. 



But, with these advantages, layering presents serious 

 drawbacks. 1st. This operation is more expensive 

 than the planting of young rooted vines, since a greater 

 quantity* of earth has to be moved. id. The propa- 

 gated shoots laid down horizontally are less rooted than 

 the young vines obtained by planting ; their roots strike 

 less deeply into the earth > they are more exposed to 

 drought, and the plants obtained from them are less 

 hardy, and do not live so long as those produced by 

 rooted plants or cuttings. 3d. Finally, if this propa- 

 gation is carried on for a certain length of time, the 

 soil gets filled up with an inextricable net-work of 

 roots, which are mutually hurtful, and working the 

 ground can not be done without mangling these creeping 

 and underground stocks, and diminishing the vigor of 

 the plants. 



LAYERING. We have already described this opera- 

 tion, in speaking of the different modes of propagating 

 the vine. It is also employed for the renewal of the 

 plants. A long and vigorous shoot is chosen, growing 

 near the foot of a stock, close to the empty space to be 

 filled up, and on the same line. A trench is then cut, 

 twelve to sixteen inches deep, according as the ground 

 is more or less exposed to drought, and sixteen inches 

 wide. This trench, which must be twenty-four to 



