188 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



an average yield will give twenty barrels per acre. No spirit 

 or sugar is added to the liquor, which is, therefore, nothing 

 but the pure fermented juice of the grape. \\'ithin a few 

 years, some of the cultivators have begun sending the grapes 

 to Philadelphia, for the table, where they sell them, at whole- 

 sale, for eight cents per pound. They are packed in boxes 

 holding one hundred pounds and upwards, with alternate lay- 

 ers of grape leaves, and are sent by railroad, fifty or sixty 

 miles." Horace "VV. S. Cleveland. 



Propagating Vines for Planting. — The custom of plant- 

 ing cuttings, immediately in the vineyard rows, where they 

 are to remain, has been, heretofore, the practice, and is still 

 so, in most countries ; the cutting consisting of well-ripened 

 wood of the current season, with a small part of the old, or 

 two yeai^s wood, the form being that of a small mallet. The 

 wood of the vine roots freely, and cuttings of one season, if 

 well ripened, I have always found to grow. The best method 

 of raising vines, is by single eyes, leaving a quarter or a third 

 of an inch of wood on each side of the eye. This method re- 

 quires a bottom heat, to meet with good success.* 



The cuttings of my vines, which are made at the autumn 

 pruning, I usually mix with the leaves, manure, and litter, 

 Avith which the border is covered, and they, though placed 

 there as manure, root freely, and we are constantly weeding 

 them up, during summer. It is said that the Scuppernong, 

 and some other kinds of American grapes, do not do well 

 from cuttings. With such varieties, the process of layering 

 must be resorted to, and, to make the most of the cane, in 

 this case, the shoot to be layered, should be cut between each 

 eye, obliquely, two-thirds through the wood, and a piece of 

 shell, or glass, or hard wood, put in the cut, to prevent its 

 closing. Roots will be thus readily made, and the vines may 

 be taken oflf, and planted out in the fall, or early spring. 



^ See Mr. Roberts's directions, for tliis plan of growing vines. 



