264 GARDENING. 



Like many other plants, the vine is propagated : 



1st, By Seeds, when new varieties are wanted, 

 and most generally by two processes, one of which 

 consists 4 ' in approaching two or more sorts so near- 

 ly together as to produce a promiscuous impregna- 

 tion ;"* the other " in cutting out the stamen from 

 the flower of the variety to be impregnated, intro- 

 ducing the pollen of that with which the cross is to 

 be made, and, finally, by dusting the stigma with the 

 ripe anthers." The former is the method of Speech- 

 ley, and the latter that of Knight. 



2d, By Layers. This method is little practised, 

 because, though plants so raised give their fruit most 

 promptly, they are both feeble and short-lived. 



3d, By Scions. These are never resorted to but 

 to cdrrect errors. When the varieties originally 

 planted are bad or unfruitful, grafting is the remedy ; 

 and though the operation be not uniformly success- 

 ful, still it succeeds often enough to recommend the 

 experiment. And, 



4th, By Cuttings. This is the mode generally 

 employed, and that which best deserves to be so. 

 The cuttings are of three kinds : the long (12 to 18 

 inches), the short (about half the length of the pre- 

 ceding), and the single eye.\ The first and. second 

 have each a portion of the wood of two years ; and 

 the third has but wood enough of the last year to fur- 

 nish the germe of a single bud. The first of these 

 methods is that of the Continent of Europe, and has 

 much and long experience to support it ; the last is 

 an English novelty, with little to recommend it, and 

 probably growing ont of the easier management of 

 short sets when raised in pots and hotbeds, according 

 to their system. One quality is, however, indispen- 

 sable to cuttings of all kinds, whether long or short ; 

 and that is, that " the wood composing them be solid 



* See Treatise on the Vine. 



t Mitchell suggested, and Speechley recommends this spe* 

 cies of cutting. 



