82 AMEEICAJST GBAPE GROWING 



the every day food they obtain in the vineyard. But 

 do not take second or third-rate plants, if you can help 

 it, for they will not make the thrifty growth of first-class 

 plants. The best are the cheapest even if they cost a 

 little more. Especially important is this with such va- 

 rieties as Norton's or Delaware, which do not root readily, 

 and are always more difficult to transplant. Better pay 

 double the price for them and get good plants, as they 

 will make healthier vines and bear sooner. 



But I also caution you against those who would sell 

 you "extra large layers for immediate bearing," and 

 whose plants are "better than any one else grows them," 

 as their advertisements will term it. It is time that this 

 humbug should cease, and the public in general should 

 know that they cannot, in reason, expect fruit from a 

 vine transplanted the same season, and that those who 

 pretend it can be done without vital injury to the plant, 

 are only seeking to fill their pockets at the cost of their 

 customers. They know well enough themselves, that it 

 cannot be done without fatally injuring the plant, but 

 they impose upon the credulity of their customers ; sell 

 them large vines at extravagant prices, which these good 

 souls will buy, and perhaps obtain a few sickly bunches 

 the first season, but if they do, the vines will make a 

 feeble growth, not ripen their wood, and be winter-killed 

 next season. Therefore, if you look around for plants do 

 not go to those who advertise "layers for immediate 

 bearing," or " better grown than any one's else," but send 

 to some honest, reliable nurseryman whom you can trust ; 

 one who is not afraid to let you see how he grows them, 

 and let him send you a sample of his plants. Choose 

 good, strong, healthy plants, one year old, plant care- 

 fully, and be content to wait two years for results ; but 

 then, if you have cultivated the vines carefully, you will 

 get a crop of grapes that is worth gathering. You can 

 not, in nature and reason, expect it sooner. 



