66 MANUAL OF MODERN VITICULTURE. 



pollen. When the periods of florescence do not correspond,, 

 we may forward that of late varieties by growing them under 

 glass, or retard that of early varieties by planting them in the 

 shade and sheltering the bunches of flowers in paper bags. 



After the fecundation has been performed, it is advisable to 

 take some precautions to avoid non-setting, which may result 

 from the washing away of pollen by rain or from a sudden 

 fall in the temperature. To remove the first cause of this 

 accident we must keep the bags open by placing a spiral 

 piece of wire inside (Fig. 29), or sheltering them with little 

 hoods made of paper dipped in linseed oil. The second 

 cause may be removed by repeated sulphuring or by annular 

 incision. 



Sometimes one may be induced to use, not only seeds 

 resulting from direct hybridization, but also those variations 

 produced by hybridized varieties ; unfortunately, such 

 offspring always resemble one or other of the parents and 

 are therefore of no interest. 



When seedlings are used with the object of creating graft- 

 bearers, we should, on the contrary, avoid as far as possible 

 these variations, so as not to lose the quality of resistance 

 to phylloxera, which is after all, the only reason for their 

 existence. We must therefore use wild types, the main 

 characters of which have been fixed by long natural selec- 

 tion, and among these we should choose those of very early 

 florescence, rendering spontaneous fecundation with less 

 resisting species impossible. Wild V. Ripana, V. Rupestris, 

 and V. Berlandieri seem to fulfil these conditions, .and 

 experience has proved the wonderful permanence of these 

 general forms in their offspring. Therefore we think it 

 advisable to use these only when we have not an opportunity 

 of studying the resistance of others by growing them in 

 soils infested with phylloxera. 



(B.) Selection of seeds. The seeds used for propagation 

 must be gathered the same year, from berries which have 

 reached complete maturity. Experience has proved that 

 those fermented with the must germinate in the same pro- 

 portion tis those removed from the berries. 



(C.) preparation of seeds. Seeds planted without any 

 special preparation generally germinate irregularly and 

 successively. With the object of avoiding this we must 

 stratify them in winter in sand kept damp during March.* 



* Corresponding to September in Victoria. 



