SECRETARY'S REPORT. 168 



The spur system gives you the first formed and ripest Ijuds 

 nearest to the old wood, and of equal strength ; and experience 

 proves that they ripen their fruit earlier than the long cane. 

 This system of pruning is now generally adopted. 



PROPAGATION. 



Nothing can be more pernicious than the now prevalent mode 

 of excessive propagation — by which I mean the making of vines 

 from single eyes in heat ; or, what is still more objectionable, 

 from green and growing wood. I know that eminent horticul- 

 turists believe that, if the subsequent culture is judicious, the 

 vine will be just as good as if raised from cuttings or layers in 

 the open air ; but this is an open question, and it is almost cer- 

 tain that, with the present imperfect knowledge of grape-growing, 

 the subsequent culture will not be judicious and skilful enough 

 to insure good vines from such doubtful beginnings. In my 

 experience, even in the open air, the light wood at the end of 

 tlie shoot will give you a vine which will not bear so soon, by 

 years, as the riper and better wood near its base ; and I annually 

 burn cords of such wood rather than propagate from it ; and I 

 am perfectly satisfied that any debility of the vine, however it 

 comes, will continue for years, and in some instances until the 

 vine is lost. I presuifte that in this way we are often disap- 

 pointed in vines which are put upon the market as hardy and 

 early grapes, and which we are surprised to find feeble and late. 



The ancients believed that the best vines were obtained from 

 the shoots nearest the main stem of the vine, and propagated 

 from no other. At Thomery, near Paris, they select the shoots 

 bearing the earliest ripe grapes for propagation, and believe they 

 thereby increase their precocity. 



I think the best method of propagation is by cuttings of well 

 ripened ivood. They should be of two or three eyes. Plantec] 

 in good garden soil, moist but not wet, they are as sure to grow 

 as the currant. Layering is a very good mode, and easy of 

 practice, but the French vignerons believe that vines raised from 

 layers are shorter lived than those raised from cuttings. This 

 mode ends in the destruction of the parent plant in three or 

 four years. If, however, you happen to lose a vine in your vine- 

 yard, you may restore it by layering a long shoot from a neigh- 

 boring vine to the one you want to replace. After it is well 



