FRUIT GROWING 15 



lower foothill lands. In local demand for the fruit, however, the 

 advantage would be with you. We would advise planting only as 

 local sale may be profitable. 



Grape Vines from Cuttings. 



Will pieces cut off from grape vines grow if taken off in the spring 

 and put into the ground? 



Surely: that is the way grapes are usually grown. Take a shoot 

 which grew this year and cut up its more mature part (near to the 

 old spur from which it grew) into pieces about eight inches long 

 and plant them (same end up as they grew) with the bottom end 

 about six inches under ground and one bud above the surface. Do 

 not wait for the eastern "spring": do it in February if the ground is 

 moist and not wet. 



Which Side Up for Vine Cuttings? 



Once I saw Italians rooting some grape cuttings and they had them 

 all planted the top end down. They said they grew better. I found out 

 the reason later on, and it was to get a grape with fewer seeds in it. 



Grape cuttings are sometimes put in upside down because bring- 

 ing the butts near the surface causes them to callus more quickly 

 and therefore to be more sure to grow. The formation of callus is 

 favored by heat, which, in the open ground in winter, is near the 

 surface, which is touched by the sun. Therefore, in California and 

 in Italy cuttings are aften inverted and buried wholly in the ground, 

 if it is sandy and well drained. After being callused they are planted 

 as they grew and as they are expected to grow. The Italians were 

 right; they do grow better by such treatment, but they usually grow 

 well enough the other way. As for turning the cuttings upside down 

 to cause the seed to fall out of the fruit we have no faith in it. 



Tree Planting in Old Vineyard. 



Some growers are removing phylloxerated grape vines and putting 

 trees in same holes; saving expense of digging holes for trees. Would 

 it not be better to put the trees between the rows where the vines were 

 where the ground has been cultivated, and would it not be still better 

 to remove vines this fall, cultivate the ground thoroughly and in the 

 spring sow to alfalfa, or bur clover, and leave for one or two years 

 before putting out the trees? 



There is every reason to set the almond trees at points not pre- 

 viously occupied by the vines. There is not only a chance of reduc- 

 tion of fertility at that point but the soil has become hardened and 

 has lost something also from the lack of aeration which cultivation 

 promotes. We should plant midway between the vines in each alter- 

 nate row, but far better would be complete clearing and growth of 



