pounds of fruit each. It is to be expected 

 that when these vines are cultivated and 

 properly pruned, the fruit will improve. 



The seeds may easily be germinated in 

 light sandy loam, or any soil which would be 

 suitable for nursery purposes. In order to 

 obtain the complete value of perfect roots, 

 the best method, no doubt, would be to start 

 the seeds in boxes, or under glass, in Febru- 

 ary or March, in the same manner that 

 tomato plants are raised; then as soon as the 

 vigorous young plants can be determined, 

 which would be within two months, to trans- 

 plant them carefully into the vineyards where 

 they are to remain. In this way the roots 

 may be suffered to grow undisturbed and the 

 plants may be grafted in place the next spring. 

 In case some have failed to grow their places 

 may be filled with seedlings one year old 

 from the nursery and grafted at the same 

 time. The seedling ^fig. 2) shown in the 

 accompanying plate, was carefully taken 

 from the ground, six months and a half old. 

 In ordinary work, most of its roots would 

 have been shortened, and its perfection when 

 transplant 3d would be impaired, although in 

 any event it would be superior to a cutting. 



In the most cases, however, it will be con- 

 sidered impracticable and as a process too 

 slow to use the seedlings transplanted from 

 boxes or hotbeds. Most farmers will prefer 

 to obtain their plants of the one year's 

 growth in nursery. They will have the ad- 

 vantage of selecting only the most vigorous 

 growers, and can graft them before planting. 



Common farmers' sense will indicate how 

 to manage a nursery. I should say, sow the 

 seeds in rows in loose, deep soil moist, but 

 well drained, after the manner of sowing car- 

 rot or beet seeds. If the plants come up 

 irregularly a little labor can be profitably 

 used in redistributing them by removing 

 some from the crowded places to the spare 

 spaces. If the rows are eighteen inches 

 apart, and the plants from four to six inches 

 apart in the rows, about sixty thousand may 

 be raised on one acre. At the end of one 

 year, if all are not required for transplant- 

 ing, the alternate rows may be taken up, 

 leaving ample room for cultivation. 



HOW MANY SEEDLINGS MAY BE BEQUIKED. 



It is the practice in this State to plant 

 vines about one thousand to the acre. Forty 

 acres would require forty thousand plants. 

 In the Sonoma valley six hundred acres have 

 been destroyed by phylloxera; it would re- 

 quire six hundred thousand plants to replace 

 them. Thousands of new acres are to be 

 planted in Sonoma, Napa and other counties. 

 To ensure them against the future attacks of 

 the dreaded plague, prudence would advise 

 viticulturists to put a foundation of sound 



and perfect roots under their vines. It is 

 plain to see that if this principle of using 

 wild vine seedlings prevails, millions of 

 plants will be required and that there is no 

 danger lest nurseries should become over- 

 stocked. As soon as the experiments have 

 progressed two or three years, and we have 

 found out what the French have discovered 

 already, it will probably be impossible for 

 the few who have had the foresight to plant 

 seeds to supply the demand for seedlings. 



No doubt, a market may be found in 

 France for millions of plants from this State. 

 They have now three billion destroyed and 

 sick vines to replace. 



A nursery cultivated for three or four years 

 would also furnish an abundance of cuttings, 

 if required, in preference to seedlings, which 

 could be more profitably obtained in that 

 way than by seeking them at the tops of 

 great trees in the wild state. It would be a 

 great task to obtain 100,000 cuttings from 

 the wild vines, while they might be easily 

 taken from a quarter of an acre of three year 

 old vines in nursery. 



I have counted small lots of the seeds 

 which I have, and find that they average 

 about 8,000 to the pound, the crushed and 

 dried skins remaining among them. The 

 whole lot collected for me contains about 

 2,500,000 seeds. I should expect to waste at 

 least one-half the seeds in sowing them, be- 

 cause many of them stick together, glued to 

 the skins, and, under any ordinary circum- 

 stances, they would fall unequally in sowing. 

 A great many plants would require to be 

 thinned out and destroyed. The immature 

 seeds would not germinate. I should esti- 

 mate, therefore, that twenty pounds would 

 be needed for an acre nursery. If started first 

 in boxes, or hot beds, they might nearly all 

 be saved in transplanting, and one half the 

 seeds would suffice. I should think that 

 even when starting a nursery, it might be 

 best to sow first under glass and transplant 

 only the most vigorous, as soon as they are 

 developed sufficiently. 



WHAT WILL BE DONE THIS YEAB. 



I have already distributed portions of the 

 seeds collected to Mr. Chas. Kohler, of 

 Sonoma; Mr. G. Groeziuger, of the Napa 

 Valley; Prof. Hilgard, of the State Univer- 

 sity, and Mr. John L. Beard, of Centerville, 

 one of the Regents of the University, and a 

 skillful farmer. 



About an acre will be cultivated in seed- 

 lings at Berkeley. Mr. Beard will do as much 

 and more to provide for his and my personal 

 use next year. 



The question of expense has not troubled 

 me in this matter, because I deem this reform 

 of such vast importance to the future of our 



