96 



box of pure sand. Cover the buds about half an inch deep, and 

 press them down, so as to make all compact. These boxes 

 may be packed away under the benches of the 

 house, and will require no care for several weeks, 

 except an occasional watering, just enough to 

 keep the sand moist. Do not expose them to 

 much heat, as the process of root-formation, as 

 with all hard-wooded cuttings, will be slow. If 

 kept too warm, the heat will excite the bud into 

 growth before roots are formed to sustain it, and 

 when they have pushed one or two inches, and 

 exhausted the small amount of vitality which 

 they contain, they will perish. Any attempt to 

 hurry a hard-wood cutting will result in disap- 

 pointment. With skilful management, ninety- 

 five per cent, of the buds will grow, and make 

 good plants. 



As there is little or no plant-food in sand to 

 sustain the growing vines, they should be trans- 

 planted into flower-pots, or boxes filled with 

 good soil, as soon as they have formed roots, 

 and turned out into the open border as soon as 

 the season will admit. 



PROPAGATING VINES BY CUTTINGS. 



Two-bud cuttings are made as represented in 

 Fig. 45, as soon after the fall of the leaf as con- 

 venient, and planted out in any well drained 

 sandy loam at once. Select a spot where no 

 water will collect in winter. The base of such 

 cuttings will callous over, and sometimes form 

 roots before the ground freezes, and make a 

 good growth the next year ; or, the wood may 

 be stored in the cellar, as directed above, and 

 the cuttings planted out early in the spring. The 

 fall is to be preferred, for the reason stated, and 

 because the ground is in better condition at that 

 season of the year. Late planting of cuttings in 

 Fig. 46. spring is liable to prove a failure. 



