PLANTING THE VINE. 449 



other manner, and they are thus prepared : selecting vigorous shoots, 

 which should be of the previous season's growth, and thoroughly ma- 

 tured, take the shoot in the left hand, and with a sharp knife make a' 

 cut from the underside upwards, one inch above the bud, and then, 

 holding the bud firmly between the thumb and finger, make another 

 clean cut in the same direction, the same distance below the bud. In 

 this manner, with a good knife, a quantity of eyes may soon be pre- 

 pared. Then make ready a quantity of 3 -inch pots, placing in the 

 bottom of each a piece of turf and a pinch of soot to check the worms, 

 fill up the pot with rich sandy half-decayed loam, press in the eye 

 half an inch below the finished surface of the soil, and the work is done. 

 So proceed, of course naming or numbering the different varieties as 

 you go on, until the requisite number of pots have been provided. 

 Then take the pots to the hotbed, and placing them in a regular and 

 systematic manner, cover them over an inch deep with cocoa-nut fibre, 

 or in the absence of that, with fine ashes or leaf-mould. If the mould 

 with which the pots are filled is in a proper state, no water, beyond a 

 mere sprinkling on sunny days, will be required until the plants start 

 into active growth, which will be in a month or six weeks, according 

 to the time the eyes were started or the parent vines might have been 

 forced the preceding season. When the young plants get into free 

 growth, encourage them in every manner by maintaining the necessary 

 bottom heat, and also a sweet brisk atmospheric temperature. 



Planting the Vines. Supposing the cuttings to be started into 

 growth in January, the best season, the plants by April should be in a 

 vigorous healthy state, with roots filling six-inch pots. Then, if you 

 wish to prepare plants for permanent planting, procure a quantity of 

 oak or deal scantling, each piece being thirty inches long by an inch 

 and a quarter square ; bore these at each end with a centre-bit suffi- 

 ciently large to take a quarter-inch or three-eighths pin ; and procuring 

 four of these for each basket, proceed to form them just the same as 

 you would to receive orchids. Each of the pins should be a foot long, 

 and formed with a head at one end and a screw and nut at the other, 

 so that the baskets may be put together with strength and firmness. 

 When the baskets are formed, line them with fresh turf, and fill up 

 with properly-prepared loam and bone-dust, to which a handful of 

 rotten manure or leaf-mould may be added. In each of these baskets 

 place two plants, at about nine inches apart, and close to the side, so 

 that when the vines are permanently planted out, the plants will fit 

 close to their place without any need for shifting. These baskets 

 should, if possible, be placed upon a bed of nice fermenting material, 

 not necessarily for the bottom heat they may obtain, but so that the 

 atmosphere surrounding the roots may be moist and genial. It is 

 important that the roots should not pass through into the bed beneath ; 

 and for that reason, after the roots begin to fill the baskets, it will be 

 necessary that they be moved once or twice a week, or be raised upon 

 bricks a few inches above the bed. 



So planted, with the roots regularly laid out and properly watered, 

 the vines will grow with great vigour, so that the baskets in a few weeks 



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