PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 63 



B. METHODS OF MULTIPLICATION. 



CHAPTER III. 



METHODS OF PROPAGATION APPLICABLE TO 

 VINES. PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. 



The vine, like most plants of the upper scale of the vege- 

 table kingdom, may be multiplied by seeds or by different 

 methods of segmentation, cuttings, layers, and grafts. All 

 these methods are of different value in different cases, and it 

 is by a sound choice between these that the success of the 

 plantation often depends. We will shortly study them, 

 examining their various applications, and the special care 

 they require. 



Propagation by seeds. We may sow vine seeds with the 

 object of obtaining : first, new c6pages ; second, resistant 

 graft-bearers. 



The creation of new cepages is very tedious work, which 

 cannot be performed by most viticulturists, who generally 

 desire to obtain as quickly as possible a vine with known 

 qualities. However, it possesses a certain interest, and the 

 Americans have by this means obtained, in a relatively short 

 time, many meritorious cepages from their wild types. We 

 think it advisable to describe it for those who would feel 

 disposed to enrich viticulture with new forms perhaps better 

 adapted to special conditions. 



While the different methods of multiplication and segmen- 

 tation simply consist in placing a portion of the plant 

 under conditions allowing it to continue the life begun in 

 common with the mother plant, without modifying it, those 

 of multiplication by seed give rise to a new vine, differing in 

 certain measures from those which produce it, although re- 

 sembling them in its general characters ; for instance, many 

 are unfertile or inferior to their parents, preventing this 



