78 



The Grape Culturist. 



whore it is cut; aud the vine will never 

 bo as healthy as one properly raised 

 frum a cutting. I have also found that 

 vines raised from Ia3'er8 have longer 

 joints and are not as hard to cut, as 

 those f'roni cuttings ; but there are 

 some kinds — as the Cyntbiana, iSTor- 

 ton's Virginia, and others — that are 

 hard to grow from cuttings, so we 

 have to multiply them by layers. 



Vines from cuttings are raised in so 

 many diflerent ways, from one bud 

 up to two leet long, that one would 

 think every propagator had his own 

 way. The difterent methods are so 

 M'ell known that it is unnecessary for 

 mo to describe them. 



My object is to make known a new 

 method, which was first brought to mj^ 

 knowledge b}" a notice in the Horti- 

 cultural Animal for 1867, by Mr. 

 Patrick, ot Terre Haute, Ind. I have 

 tried it, and believe, from my own 

 results, that it is the best. My cut- 

 tings are made with two buds : if thoy 

 are onl}' three inches long, they Avill 

 make better plants than any three or 

 four bud cuttings : three to five inches 

 is the best length- They are made in 

 November and tied with willow in 

 bundles of forty or fifty, making the 

 lowei* ends even ; then I dip the lower 

 ends, about one-third of their entire 

 length, in a mixture of clay and sand, 

 thinned to the consistency of cream, 

 to hold moisture ; after that, I put 

 them into a Irame previously prepared 

 in a sheltered situation — the North 

 side about six inches higher than the 

 South; 1 put the lower end up — this 

 is the riiain point ; then all are covered 

 with three or four inches of soil or 

 Blind and clay mixed; after that a 

 good co^'ering of straw and boards to 



keep out frost. In the spring, as soon 

 as warm weather commences, the 

 covering is taken off, and glass windows 

 are laid on to warm the top — the 

 natural lower end of the cuttings. Thjs 

 will work like a hot-bed, and callus will 

 be formed very soon, and roots will 

 start by the time the cuttings arc set 

 out in the nursciy. — Care must be 

 taken, however, not to start them too 

 soon, as the roots grow very fast. The 

 best condition for planting is, when 

 the roots just break through the bark 

 — then they are sure to grow. I have 

 ]jlanted Ibna and Delaware cuttings 

 only two inches long, and they made 

 good plants, with roots tv.'o and three 

 feet long. Good cuttings of Taylor's 

 Bullit had roots, from six to twelve 

 in niiraber, nearly one-fourth inch in 

 thickness, and three and four feet long; 

 all in a circle around the lower end 

 and very seldom any other, where the 

 upper bud was not covered, which 

 makes these plants more convenient 

 for planting than any other — they 

 can be set upright on the floor and 

 will stand up, if the cutting has been 

 set upright in the ground. 



This is a great advantage in our 

 prairie soil, as these roots will always 

 be the main roots, at whatever depth 

 they are planted. 1 planted long cut- 

 tings and plants — raised from such, 

 two, three and four, tiers of roots; and, 

 although, at first, the lower roots 

 were the strongest, in a few years the 

 lower roots began to deca}', and the 

 upper roots took the lead— closer to 

 'he top than convenient for plowing. 

 Our prairie soil will settle down, how- 

 ever loose it may have been prepared, 

 and the roo's cannot thrive well at 

 too great a depth. Plants where all 



