26 



GENERAL AND SPECIAL METHODS OF PLANTING THE VINE. 



After tlie border has been prepared, according to directions, it is a very simple 

 matter to plant a vine so that all of its requirements, which are few and obvious, shall 

 be supplied ; and yet very few arc so planted, while very many are either enfeebled or 

 destroyed by the improper performance of the operation. 



A well-rooted layer offers the most convenient form for the exemplification of the 

 general principles that are to be observed in all cases. 



The length of the portion of preceding season's wood, from which the roots spring 

 in the best vines, is from twelve to sixteen inches, and may be called the vertebra! 

 The long, fibrous roots, which spring from each side of the vertebra, should all be cut 

 back to about eight inches, so that when spread out on a plane, the space covered will 

 be about sixteen inches square. 



The excavation for its reception should be made seven inches deep, in ordinary soils, 

 but one inch less in very clayey ground, and eighteen inches square at the bottom,' 

 which should be made level at first, oare being taken to avoid a depression at the center, 

 or any elevation at the sides. A little ridge is then to be raised two inches high, run- 

 ning through the center, in the direction which the axis or vertebra is to take, and upon 

 which it is to lie, raising it two inches above the general level of the bottom of the 

 excavation. 



Before putting the vine into its place, have the stake that is to support it set, and a 

 quantity of such soil as has been directed for putting among and near the roots made 

 fine and ready in a little heap. After taking a survey of the plant as it is placed upon 

 the ridge, and determining how nriany of the roots are to lie upon the bottom of the 

 excavation, raise up carefully all of the others, and adjust those that lie upon the bot- 

 tom to_ equal spaces from each other, when they are ready to receive a layer of soil. 

 which is to be poured gently from a spade, and made sufficiently compact with the 

 hands of the operator, when it will be ready to recdve the next row of roots, placing 

 them, as was done with the lower ones, at equal distances, and so that all of them mav 

 be included in the depth of the two inches, with the thickness of the vertebra added. 

 The other side is to be managed in the same manner, care being taken to make the soil 

 uniformly compact around the axis at all points, which, at this stage, will have its upper 

 side level with, or slightly below, the sur&ce of the filling. When some of the roots 

 spring from the upper side of the axis or vertebra, they require to be raised a little 

 above the depth of the two inches named. 



The remaining four or five inches of depth is to be filled by letting the fine soil fall 

 as if poured or sifted from the spade, making it evenly compact, by layers of about one 

 inch in thickness at a time, until the hole is filled. 



<^v. w .^^\ \\ \\ X\Vv^ 



Plate No. T. 



Plate N*. & 



