RESISTANT VINES; THEIR SELECTION, ADAPTATION, ETC. 51 



layer of earth about half an inch deep. This will soon " settle " and 

 expose a very small part of the top of the cutting, barely exposing the 

 top eye or bud, and thus allowing free room fo'r the top growth. Too 

 deep burying is as bad as too great exposure of the top, especially in our 

 dry climate. 



Care should be taken to have thejcuttings of equal length, and the 

 ditch of a uniform depth, so as to have the tops at the same level. 



If it be deemed necessary to fertilize the soil at the moment of planting, 

 care should be taken not to put the fertilizer in immediate contact with 

 the cutting, but always with an inch or so of soil between. If fertiliza- 

 tion is practiced, it should be done previously. 



In forming a nursery, one may have all the cuttings slope in the same 

 direction, or he may have them sloping away from each other on 

 either side of a bank, by making furrows and turning the soil toward 

 each other, with a space of a foot between the tops of the cuttings. The 

 farther the cuttings are apart, the better they will do; as a rule they 

 are never put closer than 4 inches. All depends, however, upon whether 

 the cuttings are grafted before planting, or whether they are to be 

 grafted in the nursery, and especially whether they are to remain more 

 than a year in nursery. In the latter case, they should be placed farther 

 apart than in the former. 



A number of figures are given illustrating the manner of planting a 

 nursery. From these will be seen the manner of proceeding better than 

 one can explain. (See Fig. 10.) 



Care of a Nursery. Great care should be given to a young nursery, 

 in order to get the maximum from the money invested. One should, 

 in the beginning, see that no crust is formed or " baking " takes place. 

 After this, the weeds should be kept down, especially at first. In order 

 to avoid baking after a rain, a garden rake in the hands of a careful 

 man is valuable, the danger being in the knocking off of the young 

 shoots in case of carelessness. If, in a dry region, it becomes necessary 

 to irrigate while the cuttings are "banked" (that is, before the joining 

 is complete), care should be taken that the water does not come in 

 immediate contact with the joining of the stock and scion. The exca- 

 vations, or ditches, below the surface, made by the banking, will enable 

 one to avoid this difficulty. 



Transplanting. The vine resulting from a grafted cutting is very apt 

 at the end of the first growth to have much of its wood badly matured. 

 It is then necessary, in regions where there is fear of a very cold winter, 

 to protect the trunk of the young vine by banking the earth around the 

 main part of it. This can be done with an ordinary plow. 



Some prefer to dig up the young vines in November and bury them 

 in piles, deeply covered with earth. These beds of rooted vines are 

 usually made either near the nursery itself or at any convenient place. 



In digging out the vines the greatest attention should be given to 

 determining the question, "Is there a good joint?" In case of doubt, 

 it is advisable to reject the vine. After a very few trials one can easily 

 tell whether the joint is perfect or not. Taking the vine in both hands, 

 one above and the other below the graft, and straining it, and at the 

 same time giving careful examination for defective spots, will speedily 

 determine the value of the vine. It is of far greater importance to the 



