Propagation of the Vine. 85 



grow ; while the shoots are often 90 well developed, and so 

 long, that they admit of deeper planting than most of those 

 grown from single eyes, and they will often bear fruit the first 

 year of setting them out ; this, however, is not desirable. 



Some of the vine-planters of the lake shore will give double 

 price for layer-plants, and will reject all others if these can 

 be had at that rate. The effects upon the old vines are found 

 to be very injurious, and good cultivators object to the prac- 

 tice on this score.] 



Grafting. — This operation is sometimes performed 

 in vineyards. It is generally practiced at certain points 

 in the Departments of I'Herault, Maine and Loire. — 

 In the following cases, for instance : there are certain 

 vines which, owing to their extreme vigor, do not bear 

 a full crop before they are ten or twelve years old ; such 

 are the " Muscats," cultivated at Lunel and Frontignan, 

 To hasten the maximum yield of these vines, any other 

 descriptions are planted, provided they are very vigor- 

 ous, and, when two or three years old, they are grafted. 

 The result of this operation will be to reduce their vigor 

 and increase their fruitfulness. Elsewhere, as in cer- 

 tain vineyards of Anjou, the plant adopted, owing to 

 the nature of the soil, possesses insufficient vigor. A 

 hardy variety is then planted, which adapts itself to that 

 soil, and when the vines have attained sufficient size, 

 they are grafted. In short, grafting will always prove 

 an excellent operation when used to replace an inferior 

 plant by a better one ; provided, however, that the plants 

 to be grafted are sufficiently hardy. 



Grafting as practiced in I'Herault, is simply the cleft 

 graft placed upon the stock, below the surface of the 

 soil. We prefer the way we have seen it performed by 



