1100 
equal length. They may be planted as 
goon as made, or may be tied in bundles 
and buried in well-drained soil until 
spring. The making of cuttings may be 
deferred until late in winter if neces- 
sary, but they are much better if made 
earlier. When made in the fall or early 
winter they have time to become well 
calloused, and so are more sure to form 
roots and grow promptly as soon as the 
soil becomes warm in the spring than 
when made later in the season. 
Cuttings should be planted in loose, 
rich, and light soil as early in the spring 
as the ground is in condition for work- 
ing. Dig a V-shaped trench, making one 
side straight and smooth, and a trifle 
less than the length of the cuttings in 
depth. Place the cuttings about two 
inches apart, against the smooth side of 
the trench, carefully press the lower end 
of each firmly into the soil, and have the 
top about even with the surface of the 
ground. Fill the trench nearly half full 
with fine soil and then tramp thoroughly, 
throwing the whole weight of the body 
on the heel so as to pack the soil very 
closely about the lower ends of the cut- 
tings. Then fill the trench full, tramp 
again, and finish by drawing in loose 
soil to leave the surface level. As much 
of the success in growing cuttings de- 
pends on having good soil packed very 
closely about the lower ends, special care 
should be taken in that part of the plant- 
ing. 
Cuttings may be planted more rapidly 
and more easily by simply opening the 
soil to the required depth with a spade, 
and pushing them down into place and 
then tramping the soil back against them, 
but when planted in that manner it is 
impossible to secure uniformly close con- 
tact between the soil and the lower ends 
of the cuttings, and success is much less 
sure. When properly made and planted 
in good soil, at least 90 per cent of the 
cuttings of such varieties as the Concord 
and Niagara will grow; but of some other 
sorts, like Norton and Cynthiana, not 
more than ten per cent can be expected 
to make vines. The rows of cuttings 
should be at least four feet apart so as 
to give ample room for cultivation, and 
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 
by the end of the season the young vines 
should have made a growth of from two 
to four feet or even more. They will 
then be ready for planting in the vine- 
yard at any time after the first frost in 
the fall, or they may remain in the 
original rows until spring. This is the 
most common method of propagation, and 
fully 90 per cent of the vines sold by 
nurserymen are raised in this way. 
Layering 
All varieties may be propagated by 
layering, and many varieties, especially 
those like Norton, Cynthiana, Scupper- 
nong, and other hard-wooded sorts of the 
Aestivalis and Rotundifolia classes, can 
not be easily propagated by any other 
means. Layering should be done either 
in early spring or late in the summer, 
the spring layering being the more eco- 
nomical and making the better plants. 
For spring layering a trench of two or 
three inches in depth is dug, and a cane 
of the last season’s growth is laid into 
it and fastened in place with a few wood- 
en or wire pegs. When the young shoots 
from this cane have made a growth of 
from 6 to 12 inches, the trench should 
be filled with fine soil, well tramped in, 
and the shoots tied to stakes to keep 
them out of the way of cultivation. When 
treated in this way the canes laid in the 
trench will usually make both shoots and 
roots at each of the covered joints, and 
so make as many new vines as there are 
shoots. The trenches should be made 
lengthwise of the rows, so they will be 
out of the way, and in digging the young 
vines should be separated by cutting the 
canes just beyond the shoot nearest the 
parent vine. 
Layering may be done in midsummer 
by bending down and covering shoots 
of the present season’s growth, but it is 
not often possible to secure more than 
one or two new vines from each shoot. 
If the layering is done very late in the 
season, it is safer to cut a tongue on one 
Side of the shoot which is buried, mak- 
ing the tongue an inch or two in length 
and about one-third the thickness of the 
shoot, as roots will start more quickly 
from such a cut surface than where the 
