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72 TtfE POT CULTURE OF GRAPES : SOIL, WATERING, ETC. 



fruiting, and is not sufficiently strong, is a useless incumbrance. Vines 

 for fruiting in pots should be well grown or not at all. There is no 

 plant that repays better for proper care and attention, yet a very little 

 neglect involves total failure. 



As a rule, the numerous young Vines required for all purposes are 

 reared in nurseries, and sold for planting or fruiting, as the case may 

 be. There is no actual difference in their cultivation in the nurseries 

 from that followed in any other well-conducted garden, except that 

 often a larger number have to be produced from a given space, and 

 consequently they must be grown closer together. 



The practice generally adopted for the production of Fruiting Vines 

 in one year is as follows : 



1. Propagation. Full instructions on this part of the subject are 

 given in chap, ii., to which the reader is referred. We commence 

 here with the u eye," rooted and growing in a sixty -sized pot. 



2. Potting, etc. Liberal pot room must be provided so as to grow 

 the Vines quickly. Therefore, as soon as it is found that the roots 

 have reached the bottom or sides of the pot, re-pot into a five-inch or 

 forty-eight-sized pot, and from this, immediately the roots have again 

 reached the bottom, into an eight-inch, and from this into a ten-inch 

 or twelve-inch pot, which is called the fruiting pot. This last size 

 will be found quite large enough for all practical purposes. Plants 

 that are intended to be grown the second year need not be potted in 

 larger than five-inch or eight-inch pots. After the last shift, which 

 should not be later than the beginning of July, when the pots get well 

 stored with roots, they should be liberally top-dressed from time to 

 time ; this top-dressing, which may be raised above the rim of the pot, 

 will be found to get well filled with fibry roots. 



3. Soil, etc. The best light, fresh, fibry loam that can be 

 procured should be chosen for the first potting, with broken charcoal, 

 and a little bone-dust and decayed manure ; the rougher the condition 

 in which it is used the better. The pots should be carefully and 

 efficiently drained this is a very important matter. For the second 

 and third pottings the soil may be somewhat richer and stronger. Pot 

 Vines cannot be grown in poor soil. Top-dressings should consist of 

 equal parts of decayed manure and loam with some horn shavings or 

 bones. Care must be taken in potting to have the soil of the same 

 temperature as the houses in which the plants are growing, and the 

 Vines should be potted in the same place if possible, so as to prevent 

 any possibility of chill from exposure, any check to their growth 

 arising therefrom being extremely injurious to them at this stage. 



4. Watering, etc. Abundance of water is at all times necessary 

 for growing Vines ; they should never be allowed to become dry, and 

 should be syringed several times a-day, and the atmosphere kept 

 continually charged with moisture. When the fruiting pots are fully 

 charged with roots, liquid manure should be frequently applied. 



