THE CANADIAN iiOltilOULTURIST. 149 



LAYERING GRAPE VINES. 



BY P." E. BUCKE, OTTAWA. 



In the present age, when the extension of grape culture is all the 

 rage, and many new varieties at high prices are being introduced, it 

 will be interesting to some of the readers of the Horticulturist to 

 know the best and most rapid method of propagating the vine. It 

 may be thought out of season to enter upon this subject at this time 

 of the year, but as many prune their vines in the dutumn, and all 

 ought to do so, and as my method of proceeding greatly rests on the 

 growing and pruning of the vine, it has occurred to me that the present 

 season would be as suitable as any for my remarks. 



In the tirst place, then, the pruning of the present year should- be 

 so conducted that long stout canes, originating as near the base of the 

 parent plant as possible, should be selected. The side shoots must be 

 removed during the summer as they appear, and the canes allowed to 

 run as long as they will. From a strong, healthy vine in good soil, 

 these shoots may frequently be had from twelve to fifteen feet lobg, 

 and sometimes much longer. 



In the spring when the vines are uncovered, — as they are here 

 towards the end of April, or at such a time in the west before the vine 

 begins to start in the spring — a trench should be opened about four 

 inches deep in the shape of a V, the soil where the layers are to be put 

 down having previously been made loose, rich and pliable. Into this 

 trench the vine should be pegged down, but no earth put in until the 

 vine has made about a foot of growth, which it will do at each of the 

 eyes, and all these shoots will point straight upwards. At this stage 

 of the proceeding the earth must be carefully replaced in the trench. 

 The hand is perhaps the best to do this operation, as the shoots are 

 very tender at the base. In the autumn or next spring the vine may 

 be cut between the plants with a sharp spade or knife, and the layers 

 should be removed from the soil very carefully with a digging fork, so 

 that the small tender roots may not be stripped or peeled ; these plants 

 may then be heeled in for future use. Layers made in this way will 

 bear a full crop during the year they are put down, and if the soil is 

 good in which they are propagated, and they are carefully handled 

 when taken up in the autumn, and heeled in during the winter, so 

 that any fractures in the roots may get a new bark over them, these 



