162 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



ping the edge of the pot on some hard substance ; carefully set out the hall 

 of undisturbed earth and roots from your pot in its permanent site; water 

 freely, and in a couple of weeks it will start for a fine second growth, and 

 you will be delighted with the stout growth the vine will make during July 

 and August, and see it ripen its wood in September and October, By this 

 means you gain a full year's time without injury to your vine. 



We have an Ontario vine, treated in this way; its main vine is now, 

 August 7, eight feet high, and the layer, from near the roots, has four 

 laterals rooted, each about two feet high, besides the end of the layer, four 

 feet high, and the vine growing at this date so as to daily note its progress. 

 Same of Red River, of Arkansas, from the Patent Office last year, a per- 

 fectly hardy grape and a rampant grower. 



Grafting the Grape. 

 The most successful way to do it is to dig up a root of the Isabella, as 

 that will grow anywhere south of Canada, and cut it in lengths of three 

 inches to a foot long, according to the rapidity with which the vine is 

 desired to be grown; insert the scion into the upper end of this root stock. 

 This can be done at any time of the year, but early spring is the best for 

 this mode of grafting, whether for pots or to be put out in the open soil on 

 " border^" — that mysterious word to most farmers, but which means any 

 suitable fence out of doors, in its common acceptation. A friend of mine 

 is very successful in grafting; he recommends one year old Isabella vines, 

 not pieces of roots. 



VINE LAYERS FOR SUMMER TRANSPLANTING. 



Perhaps it is not generally known that a vine layer can be established 

 and transplanted to its permanent site, and acquire a strong roothold in its 

 chosen permanent site, during one season. 



I have repeatedly done it in the following manner: I take a large pot 

 or box, suited in size to the branch of the vine I wish to layer, say a box 

 about a foot or eighteen inches square and ten inches deep; I then take as 

 much fresh horse manure, if not three days old so much the better, and fill 

 the box half full when trampled down as hard as the foot will do it. I 

 then fill the rest of the box with one-half good earth and one-half sand 

 mixed thoroughly and put in lightly, having beforehand sawn a notch two 

 or three inches deep down one end of the box. I lay the vine in the notch 

 and through the soil over the manure, curving the branch up and out of the 

 soil near the end opposite the notch. This covers the vine, but does not 

 allow the branch to touch the manure ; a hooked stick holds the vine under 

 the soil. 



The gentle bottom heat, caused by the manure, at first makes the layer 

 readily root and afterwards the manure holds plenty of moisture and nutri- 

 ment for the young roots. If the weather is warm, in a week the layer 

 may be cut half off of the original vine, and in two or three weeks more, 

 by degrees, be completely separated from the parent vine. Say you start 

 your box by the 1st of June; by the 15th of August you can take your box 

 to the prepared permanent site, lay it on its side, take the bottom off, and 

 as you right the bottomless box the soil will be loosened from its sides, 



