THE GRAPE. lOO 



think I can prove that being inside the house has 

 nothing to do with it. Eveiy physiologist must be 

 aware, and is aware, that as soon as the circulation of 

 the juices is suspended no farther supply, either good 

 or bad, can be communicated from the root to the 

 fruit or branches, and that this communication is 

 really suspended, finally and completely, as soon as 

 the leaves die off and the wood is ripe. To prove this, 

 cut a lateral containing a bunch of fruit off — i.e. pass 

 the knife through the limb — and then see if there are 

 any signs of the flow of sap, and let this bunch of 

 fruit and the limb remain as long as the others. If 

 anything is the cause of the fruit not keeping, it is, no 

 doubt, from a want of strength in its early stages, or 

 too much maiming of the bunches in the process of 

 thinning it. Much handling of the bunch and muti- 

 lating it give a detrimental check to the process of 

 maturity, checking the onward progress of the juices, 

 and inducing a more or less retrograde action ; and 

 then, should there be a want of the supply at the time 

 through a deficiency of the liquid juices in the ground 

 (which is frequently the case under glass), there must 

 be and is a loss to the woody segments of the bunches, 

 and consequently a failure in those parts called 

 "shanking." This shanking may occur at anytime, 

 before or after the fruit has matured. I have no doubt 

 it will be found to arise from the same cause, primarily ; 

 for it will be seen that in general those bunches of 

 fruit that carry the strongest woody segments maintain 

 an effective resistance, while the weaker ones succumb. 

 The propagation of the Grape-vine is by various 

 processes —by seed for new ones, by layers, by cuttings, 

 by eyes, and by grafting. By eyes is the most popular ; 

 i.e. as soon as the wood is thoroughly ripe, select those 

 parts of the young wood that possess sound and bold 

 e}*es, and cut them off at right angles above and b^low 

 each eye, leaving half an inch of wood each way from 

 it. Insert them singly in largo 60-size pots of rotten 

 manure and maiden soil, bury them an inch or so, put 

 them in a brisk heat, and keep them moist. As soon 



