CARE OF THE VINES IN WINTER. 245 



thick skinned sorts can be kept until March. An easier 

 method, however, and one by which the grapes can be 

 kepc considerably later, is by cutting off the bunches 

 with six or eight inches of cane attached, and placing 

 the end of the shoot in a bottle of water; the bottles can 

 be arranged in racks, in a dry, dark room, where the 

 temperature is kept at 40 degrees, and where a close, 

 dry atmosphere can be maintained. In this way there 

 will be no trouble about keeping them fully a month 

 longer than would be possible if kept upon the vines. 



CARE OF THE VINES IN WINTER. 



After the leaves have fallen, the vines should be 

 pruned and prepared for winter. In the cold grapery, 

 they should be laid down close to the wall, where they 

 may be covered with sand or loam, or wrapped in mats. 

 During bright days the house should be ventilated. If 

 proper care is given to ventilation during the day, the 

 hot vinery can be used for growing crops during the 

 ■winter that need 45 degrees as a maximum temperature. 

 The vines can be laid close to the wall and shut away 

 from the interior of the house, by means of wooden 

 shutters. Before they are taken out, if the interior of 

 the house is sprayed with a solution of sixty grains of 

 corrosive sublimate, or of copper sulphate, to one gallon 

 of water, the spores and germs of the various diseases 

 of the vine will be destroyed. It is also well to annually 

 whitewash all of the brick and stone walls. 



PROPAGATION. 



Having obtained a stock of plants, it is frequently 

 desirable to increase them, which can readily be done, 

 either from eyes or short cuttings. Strong, well-ripened 

 shoots, with large but firm buds, should be selected 

 when the vines are pruned, and for eye cuttings (Fig. 

 84) make them into pieces one and one-half inches long, 

 with a bud in the center, and after removing a shaving 



