FRUIT-GARDENING. 103 



generally preferred. Many are of opinion that it is a matter 

 of indifference from which class the choice is made, provided 

 the plants are well rooted and in good health, and the wood 

 ripe. A mode of very general utility is to select the plants in 

 the nursery a year before wanted, and to order them to be 

 potted in very large pots. Varieties without end are raised 

 from seed, and it is thought that by propagating from the seed 

 of successive generations, some sorts may ultimately be pro- 

 cured better adapted for ripening their fruit in the open air 

 than now known. A seedling-vine, carefully treated, will show 

 blossoms in its fourth or fifth year. If it produces a fair speci- 

 men of its fruit in the sixth year, then a new generation may 

 be obtained so often. But seed ought never to be sown, except 

 for experiment. 



If the ground be mellow, vines may be laid down in a chan- 

 nel and covered with mellow soil and a flat stone or two 

 bricks laid over the place where the roots should start. About 

 every two feet, a bud on the vine should be exposed to the 

 air and light, from which a cane will spring. Vines treated in 

 this manner will form a system of good roots in one season ; 

 and when one year old, excellent plants may be taken up and 

 transplanted when they are to produce grapes. 



TRAINING GRAPE-VINES. 



The illustration on the next page represents the pyramidal 

 mode of training grape-vines, which is practised in large vine- 

 yards to a greater extent than any other mode of training. 

 A strong stake, not over seven or eight feet long, is set a few 

 inches from the root of each vine, and in some instances the 

 main vine is wound around the stake and tied with pieces of 

 old rope. The ends of the canes are pinched off as soon 

 as they extend beyond a given limit. 



GRAFTING GRAPES. 



The following method of grafting the vine is recommended 



