now GREATLY TO INCREASE GRAPE-VINES FROM 



LATERALS. 



At a late mectinc^ of the London Ilorticultural Society, a Mr. FIcminji: ])ro- 

 dnccd some cultinjrs of vines, which, in five days, had formed roots as mnch as 

 three inches lonjr, and wliicli liad been ]irepared by a new i)rocess. The usnal 

 methods of midtiplyinj? tlie vines are by layers, or cuttinp^s, or eyes, each having 

 so limited an apidication, that much time must clajjse before any considerable 

 number of ]ilants of a new variety can be propap:ated. Tlie method pursued by 

 Mr. Flemiuiic, is to take advantage of the laterals (which every vine may be forced 

 to produce in abundance), to separate those laterals close to the old wood as soon 

 as tliey have three or four leaves, and to strike them in silver sand in the usual 

 way. 



if a vine, says an informant, is so closely covered with glass that the air around 

 it is always saturated with humidity, and if it is then exposed to the sun (the air 

 being always warm) it breaks in the usual way ; but, in a few days, each shoot 

 will produce a lateral from the bottom of every leaf; these laterals, after growing 

 to a certain length, will themselves break into fresh laterals, and so growth goes 

 on. Thus, a vine in such a situation, having fifty eyes, Avill form fifty new shoots ; 

 these shoots, after a time, will break into at least ten laterals, and each lateral 

 may be expected to produce half a dozen other laterals of a second order. This 

 being so, a single vine with fifty eyes, may be compelled to produce materials for 

 three thousand new plants, instead of its power of multiplication being limited to 

 the original fifty eyes, as is the case under ordinary circumstances. 



The process is in most respects similar to that practised in Messrs. Weeks' 

 nursery, where vines of the old and new varieties are grown extensively, and Mr. 

 Griineberg, one of the partners, has introduced a plan by which the new varieties 

 are increased with great rapidity, as follows : As soon as they have pushed a shoot 

 a foot or fifteen inches long, it is cut back to near the base, and the top is made 

 into cuttings, every one of which strikes, and thus a great many plants of any 

 particular kind are obtained in one season. The chief point is, to take care to 

 start them sufficiently early to get the young wood strong and well ripened by the 

 autumn. 



In both cases, young, green wood is employed ; but in the last mentioned place, 

 a shoot is itself divided into cuttings, each having at least a couple of eyes ; and 

 there the operation ends. So that, while in the case above supposed there is a 

 possibility of getting three thousand cuttings in a season by the use of laterals, 

 we could hardly expect more than three hundred by merely dividing the first strong 

 shoots into cuttings. We know not whether these methods are absolutely new ; 

 probably not, for they are such as theory would certainly suggest if brought to bear 

 upon the subject. But they are so far novel, that they have not been generally 

 employed by gardeners. 



We say that they are such as theory would suggest. Nothing is more certain 

 than that the greater and more active the vitality of a cutting, the more freely 

 will it become a new individual by the emission of roots. It is equally certain 

 that vitality is most active in the young shoots of plants, turgid with organizable 

 matter, and abounding in nitrogenous principles. Therefore it is a general axiom 

 in theory, that a young cutting will strike more quickly than an old one ; that 

 green wood will root more readily than ripe wood. Propagation by the eyes of 

 the vine is indeed, in some degree, an evidence of this fact. But ripe or half 



