84 OPE^q" AIR GKAPE CULTURE. 



inches deep and about 3 feet in diameter, or as wide 

 as the distance to which the roots extend. 



Taking up the Plaints. — ^When plants are pur- 

 chased, this operation is generally left to the nursery- 

 man who not unfrequently commits it to men who 

 care very little how it is done so that they get the 

 plants out of the ground. But when we reflect that 

 a small amount of care in taking up a plant will 

 often cause a diiFerence of a year or more in its sub- 

 sequent growth, it will be evident that the labor, time 

 and consequent interest on capital which will be ulti- 

 mately saved by devoting a little attention to this 

 matter will more than pay for the few extra minutes 

 required. 



In taking uj) a vine, or any plant, it is well to 

 remember that the most efiicient portion of the roots 

 is that which lies at the extreme ends — those minute 

 fibres or spongioles which have been aptly termed 

 the mouths of the plant. In old vines, where the 

 roots extend to a great distance, these fibres are gene- 

 rally left in the soil, and the plant presents but a few 

 smooth, fibreless, cord-like roots from which spongi- 

 oles must be emitted ere the plant can derive any 

 nourishment from them. 



But in young plants the roots have not yet extend- 

 ed so far as to prevent their being easily taken up 



