166 REPORT OF THE SECRETART OF THE 



the next surface furrow, and it will be readily seen that a con- 

 tinuance of the operation described will invert the soil of the 

 whole piece to that depth, — we never watered, — yet in spite 

 of the excessive drought and scorching heat of that season, 

 their growth was all that could have been desired. Some of 

 the best bunches of the lona, Isabella, and Adirondack grapes, 

 I had the pleasure of exhibiting at the Pomological Fair in 

 1870, were taken from those vines thus planted in 1868, — four 

 feet apart in the row, and the rows six feet apart, with clean 

 culture. 



QUALITY. 



Plants produced from single buds are better than those from 

 cuttings, for the following reasons, if for no other : The 

 former being started in houses, with proper appliances, have 

 from eight to nine months to mature, and the necessary trans- 

 planting secures a better supply of fibrous roots ; while the 

 latter, planted in the open air, and seldom starting before June, 

 have only five months, and no benefit from transplanting. 



In taking up some single buds to set out, five or six weeks 

 after starting, I found most of them with two or three thread- 

 like roots four or five inches long. These were pinched back 

 to two inches before setting. Three or four of the best were 

 left in the bed until fall ; at that time the former had produced 

 a mass of fibrous roots and canes from twelve to fifteen inches 

 long, while the canes of the latter were twice that length ; but 

 the roots two and three feet long, were only enlarged continu'- 

 ations of the thread-like roots. All were root-pruned to about 

 seven inches, and planted in the vineyard. If I am asked, 

 "Would not the larger vines have done better without severe 

 root-pruning?" I answer, "No." Five years ago I planted a 

 three-years-old Delaware, with plenty of pipe-stem roots three 

 or four feet long. One-year-old vines, planted at the same 

 time, were far ahead of it in two years. The long roots not 

 only die, but produce disease. 



