42 CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



swered the all-important conditions of perfectly healthy 

 plants, which is a sufficient reason why this method of 

 propagating should continue to have the preference. It 

 is also an important consideration that every known kind 

 is readily increased in this way, and with great rapidity, 

 inasmuch as every sound eye will make a plant. It has 

 been objected, that, by taking a portion of the old wood 

 of the parent plant, any tendency to disease in the parent 

 will be communicated to the offspring. It is undoubtedly 

 true that weak eyes and poorly-ripened wood will pro- 

 duce feeble plants, and that such are undesirable, and 

 should be rejected. The desire to increase the new va- 

 rieties as rapidly as possible has induced propagators to 

 use every eye that could be made to grow; which is a 

 sufficient reason for the weak and spindling growth which 

 is so often seen. But when a plump, well-ripened eye is 

 used, theory and practice both confirm the opinion, that, 

 under good management, perfectly healthy vines are pro- 

 duced. As this method of propagation is now, and in all 

 probability will continue to be, the most practised and the 

 best, a full description of the management will be given. 



At the time of fall-pruning of the vineyard, the wood 

 for cuttings should be tied in bundles, marked dis- 

 tinctly, and stored away in a cold cellar. During the 



