CHAPTER XXXV 



LAYERING 



SOME plants, and among them the pink, send out 

 from the base of the mother stalk straight, 

 pliant shoots which can be used for obtaining so 

 many new plants. These shoots are bedded by being 

 bent elbow-wise and having the angle 

 stuck into the ground and fastened 

 there with a crotch; then the end is 

 raised upright and held so by means 

 Layering of a stake. Sooner or later the buried 

 elbow sends down adventitious roots, but until then 

 nourishment is drawn from the parent stock. When 

 the buried parts have sent down enough roots, the 

 connections are cut between the old plant and the 

 new ones, and each of these latter, set out by itself, 

 is thenceforth a distinct plant. This operation is 

 called layering, and the several shoots used in ob- 

 taining new plants are called layers. 



"Let us now put into practice the method we have 

 just been studying in theory. In a vineyard, we will 

 suppose, a number of the vines have died from some 

 cause or other, and it is necessary to replace them. 

 Layering offers us the readiest means and will oc- 

 casion least delay to the harvest. Near the place 

 occupied by the dead vine we select a stock provided 



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