172 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



dresser, conditions that have altered nothing in its 

 relations to the mother stem? It still remains in 

 uninterrupted communication with the vine that sus- 

 tains it ; it receives its share of ascending sap drawn 

 from the soil by the roots of this vine ; the buds re- 

 maining to it will develop leaves which, with the help 

 of sunlight, will convert this crude sap into elabo- 

 rated sap; in short, it lacks nothing to enable it to 

 function almost as it would have done had it not 

 been partly buried. And in fact the vine-layer does 

 bear that same year ; if well cared for, it bears sev- 

 eral bunches of grapes. So the proverb says : The 

 vine-layer pays its owner from the very first year. 

 Meanwhile, acted on by the coolness and moisture of 

 the soil and the stimulus of fertilization, it puts forth 

 adventitious roots where it has been placed under- 

 ground, and these roots grow in number and vigor 

 until the time comes when they suffice to nourish the 

 young vine without the help of the mother stem. It 

 is in the third year that the rooting is far enough 

 advanced for the young offshoot's independent ex- 

 istence. Weaning is then undertaken, and the nurs- 

 ling is deprived of its nurse ; that is to say, a stroke 

 of the pruning-knife close to the ground and on the 

 side toward the parent stock separates the latter 

 from the vine-layer, which becomes henceforth self- 

 supporting. 



"With its long shoots so near the ground the vine 

 offers every convenience for carrying out the opera- 

 tion just described ; but as a general rule shrubs and 

 trees are far less favorably situated : their branches 



