82 THE GKAPE CULTUEIST. 



A largo portion of the vines that are produced from 

 cuttings in the open air will have but few roots, and 

 sometimes these will be nearly destitute of small branch- 

 ing ones; but if they are taken up and have their roots 

 shortened, and are planted again, they will throw out a 

 number of roots from each of the original ones. The 

 Eame remarks apply to one-bud cuttings in open air. 



But the most important result derived from the 

 nursery culture is, that the vine becomes sufficiently 

 strong the second year to allow it to be placed at the 

 proper depth when planted in the vineyard. This can- 

 not be done with small one-year-old plants without det- 

 riment to their future growth. To be sure, they can be 

 planted in the bottom of a shallow trench, which may 

 be left open and not filled up until they have made a 

 strong growth ; but this will require extra care in culti- 

 vating ; besides, in most soils these trenches would have 

 to be cleaned out after every heavy shower. Vines may 

 be left in the cutting-bed until they are two years old ; 

 some cultivators do so, but they do not make so good 

 plants as when transplanted. Sometimes they are left 

 there for several years, or until they are wanted for 

 planting or selling ; but such plants are of little value 

 after the second year, as the roots are usually so long 

 that it is impracticable to take them up entire, and they 

 are cut off, leaving all the fibrous roots in the ground, 

 and the remaining roots are so old that they possess but 

 little power to produce new fibers. Had they been trans- 

 planted they would have been furnished with an abund- 

 ance of fibrous ones. For these and other reasons I 

 believe it is better to transplant the one-year-old vines 

 from the cutting-beds or pots to the nursery, preparatory 

 to their final planting in the vineyard. The soil for the 

 nursery should be in the highest state of cultivation, 

 containing all the manurial ingredients necessary for the 

 growth of the vine, in addition to being deep and thor- 



