T H E fl R APE. 153 



SELECTION OF PLANTS. 

 In purchasing from a nursery, No. 1 yearlinof plants are generally 

 preferred. Two-year-old plants cost more in price and for trans- 

 portation, and are not so likely to live, and will gain little, if any, 

 in point of time. Good No. 1 plants, from lionest nurserymen, 

 should have four to eight roots not less than two feet long, and a 

 corresponding growth of top. Before transplanting, all roots should 

 be cut back to eighteen or twenty inches, and the top shortened to 

 two eyes, and these should be set nearly level with the ground. 



CULTIVATION. 



The young plant should be allowed to take its own course the 

 first year after transplanting. No pinching, no tying-np, is neces- 

 sary. But the ground should be kept well-tilled and clear of weeds, 

 by the free use of the cultivator and hoe. A row of early cabbages, 

 beans, beets, or other root crop, may be beneficially grown between. 

 In a favorable season, the strong-growing sorts will usually make a 

 growth of five or sis feet in length, and, in some cases, as much as 

 ten or fifteen feet, the first year. 



TRAINING AND AFTER-CULTURE. 



We have now got our plants with two-year-old roots and stems 

 one-year old. The after-management is various. It is best, how- 

 ever, that this one-year vine should not be permitted to bear fruit 

 the next season — which it would do if left to itself. It should now 

 bo cut back to two eyes, and protected during winter by a slight 

 covering of stravv^. or some other light litter. 



And here comes up the question of winter protection. AVhat shall 

 be done with our vines, now that we have got them planted and 

 growing? Shall they be protected, or shall they be left exposed to 

 the rigors of the winter, and run the risk of life or death ? Some 

 will say — Let .them alone ; plant only such varieties as will not 

 need winter protection- Others, claiming that whatever is worth 

 doing at all, is worth doing well, advise protection. It is very de- 

 sirable, certainly, that we shall be able to secure such varieties as 

 will withstand the rigors of our winters without this labor and 

 care ; and there are such ; but it must be confessed that they — as in 

 the case of manv other fruits — are not of the besit sorts. It is, also 



