154 Propagation of Grape -Vmes from Green Wood. 



been heaped upon the heads of the nurser)'-men, who are blamed for their 

 errors of propagation, and scolded for this over-propagation of their plants, 

 " thus exhausting their vitality : " they are blamed for growing vines " by 

 steam \ " for using slender, feeble, and immature wood ; for making green- 

 wood layers ; and (most unpardonable sin !) for making green-wood cuttings 

 root, and develop into vines, in their extreme anxiety to serve the public 

 by supplying the unprecedented demand that exists for more and cheaper 

 grape-vines. 



Now, with all necessary deference to this abundantly-expressed public 

 sentiment, which salutes our ears at almost every meeting of the several 

 societies established for the advancement of this interesting branch of 

 horticulture, let us listen to the remarks of those who have carefully studied 

 the subject with the lights of practical observation, supported by thorough 

 scientific knowledge of the laws of vegetable physiology. Such teachers 

 inform us that these objections are " all bosh and nonsense ;" and when 

 the demurrers are asked what they mean by their favorite expressions. 

 " over-production " and " exhausted vitality," they can only answer by 

 silence : whereas the highest horticultural authorities inform us that it 

 matters absolutely nothing how the plant may have been produced, if it be 

 fully developed and perfectly ripened in all its parts. If it have good, 

 firm, well-matured wood, with plump and perfect buds, if its roots be suffi- 

 ciently ripened to withstand the exposure incident to transportation, such 

 a vine is all that we require to set out in our plantations. 



Such objectors and cavillers, especially those who denounce plants that 

 have been grown from pieces of soft or green wood, should have been at 

 the Sandusky meeting of the Ohio Horticultural Society in December. 

 There they could have had an opportunity of inspecting some vines that 

 measured respectively twenty and thirty feet in length, from the tip of 

 their shoots to the tips of their roots ; strong, firm, and well ripened in all 

 their parts. They were produced by Mr. George W. Campbell of Dela- 

 ware, O., a very intelligent and successful propagator and vine-cultivator, 

 and also a most acceptable contributor to these pages. They were brought 

 to this meeting for the express purpose of disproving the fallacies in regard 

 to grape propagation to which reference has been made in this article. 



The history of these vines is briefly this : Mr. Campbell had received 



