beneath will form roots, the others shoots which by fall should be good vines for planting.  Every bud that can reach the air and light will start upward, and thus there may be a thick growth of incipient vines that will crowd and enfeeble each other.  The probabilities are that only two or three new vines are wanted; therefore all the others should be rubbed off at the start, so that the strength of the parent plant and of the new roots that are forming may go into those few shoots designed to become eventually a part of our vineyard.  If we wish only one vine, then but one bud should grow from the layer; if two vines, then two buds.  The fewer buds that are permitted to grow, the stronger vines they make.

It must be remembered that this layer, for the greater part of the growing season, is drawing its sustenance from the parent plant, to which it is still attached.  Therefore the other branches of this vine thus called upon for unusual effort should be permitted to fruit but sparingly.  We should not injure and enfeeble the original vine in order to get others like it.  For this reason we advise that no more buds be permitted to grow from the layer than we actually need ourselves.  To injure a good vine and deprive ourselves of fruit that we may have plants to give away, is to love one’s neighbor better than one’s self—­a thing permitted, but not required.  When our vines are pruned, we can make as many cuttings as we choose, either to sell or give away.

The ground in which a layer is placed should be very rich, and its surface round the young growing vines always kept moist and free from weeds.  In the autumn, after the leaves have fallen and the wood is ripe and hard, cut off the layered branch close to the vine, and with a garden-fork gently and carefully lift it, with all its roots and young vines attached, out of the soil.  First cut the young vines back to three or four buds, then separate them from the branch from which they grew, being sure to give each plant plenty of roots, and the roots back of the point from which it grew; that is, those roots nearest the parent plant from which the branch was layered.  All the old wood of the branch that is naked, free of roots, should be cut off.  The young shoots thus separated are now independent vines, and may be set out at once where they are to fruit.  If you have a variety that does not do well, or that you do not like, dig it out, enrich the soil, and put one of your favorites in its place.

We will now consider briefly the diseases and insect enemies of the grape.  A vine way be doomed to ill-health from its very situation.  Mr. Hussman, a grape-culturist of great experience and wide observation, writes:  “Those localities may generally be considered safe for the grape in which there are no miasmatic influences.  Where malaria and fevers prevail, there is no safety for the crop, as the vine seems to be as susceptible to such influences as human beings.”