55 



roots will appear at the base of the green shoot, and when the young 

 plant is transferred to the quarters where it is to remain permanently 

 the lower portion of the parent cane may be cut away and we thus 

 secure a young vine which is practically a plant from the bud. The 

 severed portion on which are the first formed rootlets, and the bottom 

 dormant bud may also be planted and, as a general rule, they furnish 

 stout, healthy vines. 



When about to plant oat a vine, give it a good start by giving it 

 ample root room. A hole three feet in diameter and from fourteen to 

 eighteen inches deep will be ample for the first year. See to it that 

 the subsoil is sufficiently open to allow perfect, drainage, if not natur- 

 ally so, make it so by taking out about a foot more of the soil and add- 

 ing to it old lime rubbish and coarse gravel. Let the relative position 

 of surface and subsoil be retained. Put no manure at the bottom of 

 the hole ; the temptation is to do so ; but until the plant has started 

 into growth give no manure at all. A thin top-dressino^ of half rotted 

 stable manure may then be given and will serve quite a number of 

 useful purposes. It will act as a blanket in coll nights and help to 

 keep the young roots warm ; it will also minimise the risk of hurt 

 from sudden changes of temperature as a mulch to retain the moisture 

 in the soil, lessening greatly the labour of watering, and also help to 

 keep the roots near the surface, a very important point, as they will 

 come up to feed . After the vine is established, break up the soil about 

 from three to five feet from the stem, and fork in some rotten manure, 

 and from that time onward leave it alone, confining all cultural oper- 

 ations in this direction to an annual pricking up of the surface to the 

 depth of two or three inches, and giving a top dressing of manure. 

 Do not allow the soil to get hard, but for the vine to thrive the soil 

 must be firm and the roots left undisturbed. 



At the time of planting provide a stout straight stick about 

 six to eight feet long with plenty of light lateral growths which must 

 be shortened back to about three "r four inches. Wild coffee does 

 splendidly Up this train the young vine, all that is needed to be 

 done is to give it a start ; it will do the rest itself. As soon as it has 

 formed a tendril and taken hold of the support, other things being 

 favourable, growth will be rapid. For the first season the general 

 custom is to allow the vine to grow at will, leaving the terminal 

 growth untouched and only keeping the laterals as ihey appear pinched 

 back to one leaf. A strong grower so treated will sometimes make 

 from twelve to twenty or more feet of growth during the first season 

 which has all to \ e cut out the following year and a new growth taken 

 from one of the basal buds which becomes the main stem of ihe per- 

 manent vine. 



My plan, which I very naturally think a better one, is when my 

 young vine has reached about eight to ten feet of growth to cut off 

 about a foot of the top and restrict the future growth to the remaining 

 portion, keeping both leader and laterals regularly pinched back. By 

 this treatment I get a cane nearly as stout and as strong as that produced 

 by the first named method at the end of the second season, and qui e 

 capable, if permitted, to give a small crop of grapes the second yeur, 

 that is within a little over a year from the time the cutting was 

 started. 



