54 THE GRAPE CULTURIST. 



or five inches, the ground should be leveled so that the 

 upper buds on the cuttings will be covered an inch or 

 more ; then, if two inches of mulch are spread over the 

 ground between the rows, it will keep it moist and pro- 

 mote the rooting of the cuttings. 



Roots from the lower bud will usually be produced 

 first, but soon after the base of the shoot is covered, a 

 set of roots will issue from near it, which will assist the 

 growth. 



If the cuttings make a good growth four to six feet is 

 not uncommon ; they should be tied to stakes, as this will 

 promote the ripening of the wood. Fig. 16 is a fair rep- 

 resentation of a two-eye cutting at the end of the first 

 year. In this sketch the roots and top are necessarily 

 shown much shorter, in proportion to the length of the cut- 

 ting, than they were on the plant from which the drawing 

 was made, and the small rootlets cover all the roots, while 

 they are here represented on only a part. When roots 

 have these small appendages attached to them in abund- 

 ance they are called fibrous-rooted. 



All vines when grown in congenial soil will have more 

 or less fibrous roots, for it is through these that the plant 

 derives a large portion of its food from the soil. They are 

 often as minute as those shown in Fig. 16, and they are 

 soon destroyed if exposed to the air. 



When cuttings are grown in the above manner they are 

 readily changed into one-eye cuttings by severing the 

 stem just under the upper tier of roots; this will give as 

 good a one -eye plant as though it was grown under glass 

 and from a single eye. Fig. 17 shows the plant after the 

 lower section of the roots have been removed. 



Growing plants in this way involves a waste of buds, 

 and, moreover, cuttings are not so certain in the open air 

 as in the propagating house. 



It is very difficult to make some varieties grow from 

 cuttings in the open air, while others do so readily. Some 



