MARCH] THE VINEYARD. 251 > 



of the wood should be close, solid, and compact; but the best crite- 

 rion of its maturity is its solidity, and having very little pith ; it is 

 absurd to expect good success or prosperous plants from wood im- 

 perfectly ripened. 



Unskilful persons frequently choose remarkably strong shoots for 

 cuttings ; the extraordinary size is one of the least necessary requi- 

 sites; indeed, exceeding strong shoots generally abound too much 

 with pith, and are too long jointed to claim a preference. 



In the proper pruning season, which, in the middle States, I con- 

 ceive to be the latter end of February, or first week in March, much 

 earlier in the southern States, and very little later in the eastern 

 take your cuttings from the old vines, near to where they were pro- 

 duced; cut off the lower end of each in a sloping manner, half an 

 inch below a bud, and the upper end, in like manner, an inch above 

 one, having the slope on the opposite side of the bud, and leaving 

 the cutting from twelve to sixteen inches long ; but twelve is suffi- 

 cient, if short-jointed, and furnished with at least four or five good 

 buds. 



There can be but one prime cutting obtained from each shoot, 

 though many persons cut these into several lengths, and plant them 

 all, which should not be done except in cases of necessity, for the 

 upper parts are never so well ripened as the lower, on account of 

 these being produced at an earlier period, and having the advantage 

 of the whole season to perfect their maturity. The upper parts 

 being soft and spongy, admit the moisture too freely, which often 

 prevents their growth, and even should they succeed they will not 

 produce fruit so soon, nor will they bear so abundantly for many 

 years as those whose wood is close, compact, and already organized 

 for fructification. 



Some people recommend taking off the cuttings with an inch or 

 two of the two years' old wood annexed, but this is unnecessary, 

 and even injurious, unless the species of plant which you are pro- 

 pagating is extremely pithy and spongy, like the fig ; for the nearer 

 we approach to nature's method by having as little old wood as pos- 

 sible about the root of a young plant, the better. 



When the cuttings are thus prepared they should be laid in trenches 

 close to each other, in some dry part of the vineyard, and covered 

 with earth to within two inches of their tops, where they are to re- 

 main till you are ready to plant them ; covering them in frosty or 

 parching weather with some loose dry litter, which is to be taken off 

 every mild day, that they may the more effectually be inured to the 

 open air. This is the best method of preserving them, even during 

 the entire winter. I do not approve of keeping cuttings for any 

 length of time in close, dark, un ventilated cellars ; for in such places 

 they become weak, blanched, tender and sickly, and seldom succeed 

 well when planted out; besides, they have nothing to imbibe whilst 

 there but foul air, which vitiates their juices, and brings on diseases 

 and bad health. 



IT 



