67 



strong and vigorous as if they issued from the same joint as near 

 the surface as possible, and with a tendency of striking deeply into 

 the soil, in a downward direction. 



Eye Cuttings. 



In order to insure a, good proportion of these single eyes strik- 

 ing, they are set in the spring, in moist sand under glass frames, 

 and when the shoots commence to push upwards, fed by the tender 

 roots in the sand, they are gradually hardened by more direct 

 exposure to the air and are finally transplanted, when they make 

 sturdy plants. 



It is often necessary to keep the vine-cuttings a month or 

 two before they can be planted out ; they should in that case be 

 put temporarily in a trench dug in well drained and moist soil and 

 banked up with earth where they will keep dormant ; at planting 

 time, only a sufficient number of cuttings for the day's requirements 

 should be taken out. 



Rooted vines, whenever obtainable at a reasonable price, are 

 much more certain to strike root and grow, and although in many 

 parts of the Eastern States, where the spring and summer 

 months are moist, cuttings are generally planted in preference, yet 

 in this State they will be found to give better results and reduce to 

 a very considerable extent the percentage of misses. On the one 

 hand the cost of rooted plants is five or six times as much as that 

 of cuttings, but, as a compensation for the heavier outlay, the 

 certainty and the more uniform growth and early cropping are in 

 favour of rooted vines as compared with cuttings. 



A small nursery should be planted to provide rooted vines for 

 filling up blanks occurring after the first season's planting. Few 

 cuttings, probably, strike better than vine-cuttings and those can be 

 got at pruning time for little over the cost of trimming. 



