84 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



cess. The more buds we can get around the base of a 

 cutting, the better, other things being equal ; for these 

 buds, as soon as they become active, send down new 

 matter, from which the roots are emitted. 



Cuttings of the grape are sometimes made of a single 

 eye (fig. 61), with an inch or so of wood above and below it. 



The time to make cuttings is in the fall, as soon as the 



Figs. 58 to 63. CUTTINGS. 



58, a cutting, all of young wood ; 59, a cutting, with a heel of old wood ; 60, a 



cutting, with 2 or 3 eyes of old wood ; 61, a cutting of a single eye of the grape 



vine ; 62, a long cutting of the grape ; line A, J5, surface of the ground. 



wood is ripe, and through the early winter months. It 

 should not be deferred later than January. The soil for 

 cuttings is of the greatest importance to their success, for 

 if, on the one hand, it be cold, damp, and compact, they 

 will decay, and if too loose and sandy, they will dry up 

 for the want of sufficient moisture. A soil so mellow that 

 it cannot bake, and yet so compact as to retain humidity 

 enough to support the cuttings until new roots are formed, 

 seems to be absolutely necessary such a soil as we may 



