Book I. GRAPE-VINE. 755 



a successful instance of this practice from layers made in a vinery ; but when taken from 

 stools in the open air, it happens almost always that the roots of the layer are not ripened ; 

 the consequence of which is, that their extremities rot off, and the following year the 

 plants make hardly any shoots. Layering without, or but with a trifling incision, as is 

 too frequently done in the hurry of nursery business, greatly contributes to this effect, 

 by obliging the shoot to derive all its nourishment from the parent plant or stool, to 

 which, in autumn, the descending sap is returned. Whereas, when a deep incision is 

 made, or a ring of bark taken off in Williams's manner (2168. ), less sap ascends, the shoot 

 is not so long, it ripens sooner, and the descending sap reposes in, and ripens the roots. 

 It is not easy to conceive in what way plants so raised can be inferior to those raised 

 from cuttings of one or of several eyes ; though it appears to be the general opinion that 

 they are not so long-lived as plants raised from one eye. " Vine-plants raised by layers," 

 Speechly observes, " are much inferior to plants raised by cuttings, both in point of fu- 

 ture vigor and durability." Hitt wonders how any one can prefer cuttings to layers, since 

 the former are always one year beyond the latter. 



4809. By cuttings. The advantages of propagating by cuttings are economy in labor, 

 economy in the wood or shoots to be propagated from, and tops or shoots proportioned 

 to the roots. There are three kinds of cuttings used in propagating vines : — 



4810. Long cuttings. The first are from a foot to eighteen inches long, consisting of new or young 

 wood, with a joint or two of that of the preceding year. This is the sort recommended by Miller ; 

 adopted in forming vineyards on the continent ; and formerly also in this country in planting walls or 

 vineries. They are inserted so as to leave only two eyes above ground ; the earth is firmly pressed round 

 the lower part, to which the old wood is attached ; they are mulched, and water is supplied regularly in 

 dry weather. Cuttings of this sort, so treated, strike freely, as Speechly observes, either with or with- 

 out bottom heat. We have seen them in some French nurseries producing luxuriant shoots and branches 

 of grapes the first year. Justice says he prefers stocking a vinery from such cuttings to using rooted 

 plants. 



4811. Short cuttings. The second mode is that of forming the cuttings with only one eye on young or 

 one-year-old wood, and a few inches of that of the preceding year attached. " Each cutting should have 

 two inches of the old wood, with one eye of the new. The bottom part should be cut perfectly smooth ; 

 plant in pots, one cutting in each pot, which, as to size, should be a forty-eight When the plants begin 

 to get strong, and the pots full of roots, it will be necessary to shift them from the forty-eights to the 

 thirty-twos." {Speechly.) 



4812. Single eyes. By the third mode, the cuttings have: only a single eye on young or one-year-old 

 wood. This mode was first adopted by the Rev. M. Mitchell, and by him communicated to Speechly, 

 about the year 1770. The following is Speechly's reasoning in its favor : " It is allowed," he says, " that 

 cuttings are generally preferable to layers, and that plants of any sort raised from small cuttings, com- 

 monly make the best plants. The new plant is injured in proportion as it partakes too abundantly of its 

 original or mother plant. Hence, the less the bulk of the matter that forms the new plant the better ; for 

 plants raised from seed have the smallest beginning of any, and are preferable both to layers and cut- 

 tings." (Tr. on Fine, 52.) Perhaps, the chief advantage of propagating by eyes in preference to short 

 or long cuttings or layers, is, that the sets are more manageable, and can be more readily potted and 

 placed in pits or frames to receive bottom heat ; on which, applied early in spring and continued through 

 summer, accompanied by proper shiftings and waterings, much more than on the form of the cuttings, 

 depend abundance of roots and fitness for bearing the second year. We have seen single eyes raised 

 in pineries, produce strong snoots from ten to twenty feet the first year, and others, in cold frames or pits, 

 with only a little bottom heat to start the plants in spring, produce weak shoots, not longer than two or 

 three feet. Ripe wood is to be chosen for propagating by eyes : and though some are of opinion that cut- 

 tings taken from the lower part of the vine are preferable to those that grow higher and at a distance 

 from the root, yet Speechly says, he never could find any difference, provided the wood was equally well 

 ripened. Forward shoots, from vines forced early, he considers as the most eligible ; and these will ge- 

 nerally be found at the most distant parts from the root, as vines generally break first at the extremities 

 of the shoots ; and at these extremities will be found both the strongest, earliest, and best-ripened wood, 

 and largest and most abundant bunches of fruit. Very strong shoots abound too much with pith to make 

 good cuttings, the requisites to which are as follow : " 1. The eye or bud should be large, prominent, 

 and bold. 2. The shoots should be moderately strong, round, and short-jointed. 3. The texture of the 

 wood should be close, solid, and compact; and the best criterion of its maturity is, its solidity, and hav- 

 ing very little pith." (Tr. on Fine, 57.) " Choose fit shoots at the pruning season, and preserve them till 

 wanted in spring, by cutting them into moderate lengths, and placing their lower ends in earth, which must 

 be moistened, if it get very dry. Cut the upper part of the shoot sloping, with a sharp knife, about a quarter 

 of an inch above the eye ; and, at about three inches below the eye, cut off the wood horizontally, or right 

 across, and smooth the section." In some of the London nurseries, Speechly's mode of forming vine- 

 cuttings is reversed, and the wood is cut off horizontally close below the eye, and at three inches above it : 

 others cut at equal distances from the eye, and bury the whole cutting in the soil, with the eye upper- 

 most, which appears superior even to Speechly's mode, where no bottom heat is given, as affording a 

 greater supply of" nourishment to the young shoot. Plant in pots, and apply bottom heat as in propagating 

 by short cuttings. 



4813. By grafting. The advantages of this mode of propagation may not at first 

 sight appear, but they are, Speechly observes, " many and important. " First, when a 

 wall, or vinery, is planted with inferior kinds of vines, the usual method of stubbing 

 them up and supplying their places with better sorts, is attended with much expense and 

 loss of time : as several years must elapse before the wall can be completely finished 

 with new vines ; but, by grafting, the nature of the vines may be changed without ex- 

 pense or loss of time ; for I constantly have good grapes from the same year's graft ; 

 and in a hot-house the grafts, if permitted, will frequently shoot thirty or forty feet the 

 first summer. Secondly, in small vineries, or vine-frames, where it would be incon- 

 venient to have any considerable variety of sorts from roots, they may be procured by 

 grafting different kinds upon one and the same plant. A Syrian vine now (1759) grow- 

 ing in the hot-house at Welbeck, produces sixteen different sorts of grapes. But the 

 most important advantage, Speechly considers to be, " the improving the various kinds 



3 C 2 



