82 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



make the vigorous start on which so much depends. The 

 nurseryman should be requested not to prune much before 

 packing and to pack the vines well for shipping. The vines 

 should be heeled-in as soon as they reach their destination. If 

 the vines are dry on arrival, they should be drenched well 

 before heeling-in. It sometimes happens that the vines are 

 shriveled and shrunken from excessive drying, in which case 

 the plants often may be brought back to plumpness by burying 

 them root and branch in damp earth, to remain a week or 

 possibly two. To heel-in, a trench should be double furrowed 

 in light, moist soil, the vines spread out in the trench two or 

 three deep, and then earth shoveled over the roots and half 

 the tops, sifting it in the roots, after which the soil is firmed. 

 The vines may thus be kept in good condition for several weeks 

 if need arises. 



The vines are prepared for planting by cutting away all 

 dead or injured roots and shortening-in the healthy roots. 

 Grape roots can be cut severely if healthy stubs remain, the 

 removal of small roots and fibers doing no harm, since fibers 

 are of value only as indicating that the vine is strong and 

 vigorous. Fresh fibers come quickly from stout, healthy 

 roots. Most of the fibers of a transplanted vine die, and 

 laying them out in the hole to preserve them, as is so often 

 recommended, is but a useless burial rite. On good healthy 

 vines, the stubs of the roots, when cut back, will be four to 

 eight inches in length. The root system having been con- 

 siderably pruned, the reciprocity between roots and tops 

 must be taken into account and the top pruned accordingly. 

 To reduce the work of the leaves to harmonize with the activ- 

 ities of the roots, the top should be pruned to a single cane 

 and two, never more than three, buds. The vine is now ready 

 for planting and, the soil being in readiness, planting should 

 proceed apace. 



