THE QUALITY OF PLANTS AS AFFECTED BY AGE, ETC. 



11 



kfTords the neccas^uy appliance. The most simple of all Is a box of 

 any depth from six to twelve inches, which can be made very close. 

 If only six inches deep, it will admit but one layer of bunches, to be 

 laid only so near each other as just to touch without pressure, or 

 better, with a slight space between them. If the box is nine or ten 

 Inches deep, it will admit two layers, but the upper one must be separ- 

 Rted from the lower by a bed of slats let down half the depth of the 

 box. A box two feet and a half lonj, eighteen Inches wide, and ten 

 Inches deep, will accommodate seventy-live or one hundred pounds. 

 The bed for the upper layer may be conveniently made of ordinary 

 laths, separated one fourth of an inch, or less, from each other. The 

 grapes may be supposed to be gathered iu the fore-part of a dry day in 

 October, after the dew is thoroughly dried from thcra. Every green, 

 wormy, or imperfect berry should be carefully removed by cutting 

 with a sharp-pointed scissors through the pedicels, as is done to pre- 

 pare them for market, being careful to handle them so as not to re- 

 move the bloom. That is a wax covering for their protection, and is 

 needful before and after ripening. 



Plate No. 4. 



After the bunches are all prepared, lay them carefully into the box, 

 on paper, and when the box is filled, set it into the cool room, to re- 

 main all day without the cover. At evening, put the cover so that it 

 will, at the front edge, be raised up about one inch. Let the cover re- 

 main in this position until the cool weather of November is estab- 

 lished, when it is to be fastened down closely, to remain until opened 

 for examination, or to take out the grapes for use. 



The success of the performance depends upon the perfection of the 

 fruit, the care in handling, and the suitability of the room in which 

 the case is placed. The north room of an ordinary dwelling, or any 

 other room made equally cool, affords a good reception for the box ; but 

 it must not be warmed to summer temperature by the sun or any arti- 

 ficial heat, even for a little time. The more nearly closed the boxes 

 may be before the final shutting up, the better for the grapes. 



A much more convenient cabinet may be made with drawers, and 

 the cost for one of sufiicient size, to contain two or four hundred 

 pounds, will be very little in proportion to the worth to be obtained. 



Such a case is represented in the engraving. Instead of trays with 

 slats, as directed when boxes are to be used, drawers are to be made of 

 the same structure, about four inches deep, or of sufficient depth to 

 admit the bunches. The case represented in the engraving (Plate 

 No. 3) is four feet high, three feet wide, and two feet deep, and will 

 contain about two hundred and fifty pounds. The cover is movable, 

 no shown, to be left open and closed as directed for the boxes. The 

 drawers need no separating piece between them, the ends being less 

 than the hight by lialf an inch, to give room for the slides. The 

 door in front must be kept closed after the cold weather is established, 

 and If the room admits of freezing, a bed-quilt thrown over the case 

 will be sufficient protection. In February, thorough examination 

 ibould be made of all the drawers, and any imperfect berries that may- 



be found, must be carefully removed, and no free moisture permitted 

 to remain. 



If a long !?erlea of warm days should occur In January, some venti- 

 lation may be necessary, and also an examination for the removal of 

 defective berries. 



The cabinet is represented as closed. In Plate No. 4, in whicli condi- 

 tion it is to remain, except when opened for purposes named. It 

 may be enlarged by additions to the hight and width. None but the 

 late-keeping kinds are fit subjects for treatment. The lona, Anna, 

 Diana, Israclla, and Delaware, are all well adapted for this i)urpo;>c 

 and in the order named, for the latitude of New-York, where the Dela- 

 ware is easily kept until February, and the others until April. Farther 

 north the Dclawares may be kept until spring. Grapes for keepiiiR 

 must be taken before the stalks lose their vitality and begin to dry. 



The Quality of Vines as affected by Age and different 



Modes of Propagation, and the Economy of the dif- 

 ferent EZinda to the Purchasers. 



Vines are chiefly produced for commercial purposes by six different 

 methods, and although the value of the plant varies greatly, according 

 to the plan of production, it differs still more in accordance with tiie 

 different degrees of attention and skill under which nearly all of the 

 plans are executed. 



Each bud contains a perfect young plant, and the business of pro- 

 pagation is not to create a new plant, but simply to afford it an oppor- 

 tunity for development by affording ta it safety from injury, and the 

 proper nourishment during its infant progress. The propagating 

 house is the nursery for infant vines, to bring them forward in health 

 to vigor and hardiness. , 



The greatest degree of attention is required by single-eyes or short- 

 cuttings, because, when detached from the mother-vine, but very little 

 sustenance goes with them in the form of sugar that has been hiid up 

 iu the small piece cf wood that belongs to them. The plants must go 

 through a long, critical period, in which they are liable to receive in- 

 jury that will permanently affect their health and prosperity. 



Vines that are started in March will, at the end of the season, pre- 

 sent a very great difference in appearance, according to the conditions 

 under which they have been produced, and may be either valuable or 

 less than worthless. 



It may be stated that the vines designated as Extra and Best Selec- 

 tion, have all of the advantages of vines that rate as No. 1, at two years 

 old, that have been transplanted and root-pruned, and something more. 

 The Extras and the best selection have the real excellence of the vino 

 more fully and perfectly developed than the No. 1, and will continue 

 to give better results perpetually. 



Those who get the best vines do much more than gain time — they 

 gain perpetual excellence in quality and quantity. 



How Vines of Best Selection, etc., are produced. — ^AVood for their 

 production is taken from the most perfectly developed vines, that is, 

 such as have the most perfect balance of all their parts, rejecting alike 

 the produce of those that are gross and of those that are feeble. The 

 eyes thus obtained are about the first of February placed in tlie most 

 favorable circumstances for growth, and thus contmued until the wea- 

 ther becomes mild enough to put them out into the open air. At this 

 time they may have undergone six changes from small pots to larger, 

 until they have acquired the size of root and foliage that belongs to 

 No. 1 vines of roy Catalogue. 



They are now in full health and vigor, with all of the favorable part 

 of the season before them in which to acquire a second season''s hardi- 

 hood and vigor, and If they are so managed as to avoid all check and 

 damage to their leave?, they do acquire it with the additional advan- 

 tages, which there is not room here to state, but which have been shown 

 by actual trial during the past five years, to be so great tliat persons 

 from all parts of the country, who have made the experiment by grow- 

 ing them in gardens and vineyards, constantly affirm that they are 

 cheaper at the prices paid for them than vines of a lower grade at no 

 price. All of the vines thus treated are very good, but not equal. 

 Three grades are made of them, the best constituting the Best Selection, 

 the next Extras, and tlie third best. No. 1. Those for No. 1 are started 

 in March and those for lower numbers later. The whole art, in its best 

 management, is one that requires more knowledge, skill, and care than 

 any other belonging to cultivation. When I begun to offer ^nes to the 



