76 GRAPE. 



wood, or short, with only one bud, or one bud and a half 

 joint, &c. Vines are to be had at the nurseries, propagated 

 either from layers, cuttings, or eyes ; but plants raised from 

 cuttings are generally preferred ; many are of opinion that 

 it is a matter of indifference from which class the choice is 

 made, provided the plants are well rooted, and in good 

 health, arid the wood ripe. A mode of very general utility 

 is to select the plants in the nursery a year before wanted, 

 and to order them to be potted in very large pots. Varie- 

 ties without end are raised from seed, and it is thought that 

 by propagating from the seed of successive generations, 

 some sorts may ultimately be procured, better adapted for 

 ripening their fruit in the open air than now known. A 

 seedling vine, carefully treated, will show blossoms in its 

 fourth or fifth year ; say that it produces a fair specimen of 

 its fruit in the sixth year, then a new generation may be 

 obtained so often ; but seed ought never to be sown, except 

 for experiment. 



The following method of grafting the vine is recommended 

 by Mr. Loudon : Select a scion with one good eye ; pare it 

 beneath the eye and on the opposite side, in the form of a 

 wedge. Select from the stock to be grafted on, a branch of 

 the preceding year ; cut this off a little above the second 

 eye from its base ; then with a sharp knife split it down the 

 centre nearly to the old wood. Out of each half of the 

 stock, but chiefly out of that half which is opposite the bud, 

 pare off as much as is necessary to make it fit the scion, 

 which must be inserted with its eye opposite to the eye 

 which is left on the top of the stock, and bandaged together 

 carefully with bass matting. Some use grafting clay, others 

 composition ; in either case, a small hole for the eye of the 

 graft, and another hole for the eye left on the stock, must 

 be left open. Tie over a little moss, to be occasionally sprin- 

 kled with water. It is very essential that the young shoot 

 on the top of the stock should be allowed to grow for ten or 

 fifteen days ; then cut it off, leaving only one eye and one 



