VARIOUS WAYS OF PLANTING VINES. 27 



the soil, making at the same time an incision with the 

 knife below each bud or joint, to induce the emission of 

 roots ; placed a strong, hooked, wooden peg to keep the 

 stem steady at the junction with the soil, and covered 

 them, giving the whole surface a slight watering with 

 tepid water through the rose. Their after-treatment 

 was the same as I shall hereafter describe as suitable 

 for vines in their circumstances. They made splendid 

 canes to the top of the house by the autumn. While 

 they were being planted, A. remarked that he and his 

 man planted theirs differently, and described their way 

 of doing it, as I have already done. I went and looked 

 at A/s vines, and expressed doubts about their success. 

 At the end of their second year's growth, which was the 

 end of the first year of B/s, they were not half the 

 strength. A. then asked me to do as I pleased with 

 his, if I thought I could make them grow like B.'s. I 

 had them taken up, and found the ball of roots almost 

 as it was put into the hole. I had them disentangled 

 and spread out, and the vines replanted, but to the 

 present date they have not overtaken B/s, that started 

 a year behind them. 



I can strongly recommend the following method of 

 planting and treating young vines, from my own ex- 

 perience of it in the past season. It is probably in its 

 details new, but it only requires to be described to com- 

 mend itself to all who have any knowledge of such mat- 

 ters. I had a large house to plant, chiefly with Mus- 

 cats, in April 1864. I had a stock of one-year-old plants 

 in 8-inch pots by me ; I cut the rods back to 4 feet in 

 February, and allowed them to stand in a cold peach- 

 house till the 13th of April, when the border was ready 



