110 THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



injured, should be thrown out before being brought to the field. A 

 cutting costs so little that it pays to use only the strongest and best, 

 when a much better stand will be the result. Frosted cuttings can be 

 detected by their darker color. Fresh and healthy cuttings should 

 have a green and fresh cambium or inner bark, and a fresh cut should 

 show fresh sap oozing out. 



When the sheep' s-foot is used in planting, the butt end of the cut- 

 ting is inserted in the forked end of this tool, and this explains why it 

 is necessary to have as little wood as possible below the last eye of 

 the cutting. By pushing the sheep' s-foot down in the soil, the cutting 

 is pushed simultaneously down to the proper length; a twist is then 

 given the sheep' s-foot so as to get it loose from the cutting, and the 

 former is then pulled up. It may in some instances be necessary to 

 push down the cutting with the left hand, while the sheep' s-foot is 

 being pulled back, as care must be taken that in pulling back the 

 sheep' s-foot the cutting is not lifted. Even the smallest lift will cause 

 the lower end of the cutting to hang in an air chamber, and this will, 

 as I have stated, cause the cutting to mold and die. When planted, 

 a few sharp taps with the foot will sufficiently fix the cutting. When 

 the flat bar is used, a hole is first made by the bar, the cutting is then 

 inserted, and the hole filled up by again inserting the bar near the 

 cutting, and by pressing it forward towards the latter. Neither of these 

 tools can be used in dry or stony soils, but in moist and loamy soil, 

 which has been previously well prepared, they are most excellent, as 

 doing the work both quickly and well. The sheep' s-foot is unexcelled 

 for speed in loose soil, while the flat bar is of advantage where the 

 soil is a little harder. The flat spade is used when rocky and stony 

 or even gravelly soil interferes with the using of the former tools. 

 Hvery farmer will know how to use the spade, and no further explan- 

 ation is required here. 



Some plant the cuttings slantingly in the soil, in order to bring 

 them as near the surface as possible. This is well enough and proper 

 in very wet soils, where the lower strata are too cool, but in this warm 

 country the perpendicular planting is easier and better. By twisting 

 and bending the cutting in the dug hole a longer cutting can be used, 

 but I have seldom found any advantage of very long cuttings, and 

 few soils are suited to raisin grapes when such methods are needed to 

 produce strong and rapidly growing vines. 



Care of Young Cuttings. In places where irrigation is needed and 

 used, many irrigate the cuttings immediately after they are planted, so 

 as to settle the soil. This, however, is only needed where the ground 

 is very dry or very sandy. It is much the better way to irrigate before 

 planting and to plant on the loose soil after "it has been replowed and 

 properly prepared. Such soil keeps the moisture for a long time, and 

 even in dry climates will require no irrigation for months after the 

 planting. The principal care, after the cuttings have been planted, 

 but before they are fairly started, is to keep the ground loose and to 

 prevent it from baking on the surface. The best way to accomplish 

 this is to run a revolving randel harrow over the land regardless of 

 the cuttings. This kind of harrow consists of a row of vertical, 



