252 -AMERICAN VINES. 



IV. NURSERIES. 



(a) Selection and preparation of soil. Almost any 

 ground may be converted into a nursery, with more or less 

 success. Dry, pebbly soils which cannot be watered often 

 result in failures ; the growth of the roots takes place slowly, 

 and the joint is liable to dry. Compact or very damp soils 

 are not much better; for whatever may be the length of the 

 shoots, the roots always remain small and slender, and the 

 knitting is defective. As in the case of most plants where 

 rapid development is required, the grafted cuttings need a 

 very friable, sandy, fresh, and, above all, fertile soil. Recent 

 alluvials are, generally, .very suitable for the establishment 

 of a nursery, as also warm siliceous soils where heath grows 

 naturally; in fact, all soils remaining moist at a certain depth 

 and becoming easily .warmed on the surface, but without 

 baking hard. We should, as far as possible, avoid establish- 

 ing nurseries in soils the surface of which forms a crust after 

 rain; the buds remaining imprisoned cannot shoot through 

 the hard crust, and therefore die off. 



The neighborhood of trees must be avoided; whatever 

 care may have been taken in cutting their roots when 

 trenching, grafted cuttings never develop well in the vicinity 

 of trees or forests, on account either of the shade or the 

 exhaustion of the soil by their roots. 



Trenching or subsoiling by hand should be preferred, the 

 work being done in summer. Manuring with fertilizers, or 

 preferably with stable manure, should be done freely. 



(b) Plantations. The planting of the nursery is done in 

 April or May, the cuttings are planted in lines, the distance 

 apart of which varies according to the size of the plot. But 

 for the cultural care, the removal of the roots, etc., to be 

 asily performed, the lines should be at least 50 to 60 cm. 

 apart (20 to 24 inches). Again, they may be arranged two 

 by two, 20 cm. (8 inches) apart, each group of two being 

 separated by an interval of I metre (3ft. 3in.). The distance 

 apart of the cuttings in the line may vary between 5 and 15 

 cm. (2 to 6 inches). It goes without saying that the further 

 they are apart the better. 



The planting may be done with a dibble, a fork, or in a 

 trench. 



When planting with a dibble (Fig. 135), the land should be 

 previously manured. The grafted cuttings are buried in 



