232 THE FRUIT GARDEN 



true to name. Sow the seed in small pots, placing two seeds in a pot, the first 

 week in March ; put the pots in a warm house, water the soil, and cover 

 them with a piece of glass. If the seeds are good it will not be long before the 

 seedlings show above ground. The glass should then be removed, placing the 

 plants near the glass to encourage sturdy growth. If the two seeds have grown, 

 one seedling must be taken out of the pot as soon as it is large enough to get 

 hold of, and thrown away or planted in another pot as the cultivator may 

 decide. When the seedling is lo or 12 inches high it should be repotted into 

 a 7-inch pot. After firm potting return it to the same temperature and posi- 

 tion near the glass. When the shoot begins to harden, as it will do towards 

 the end of the summer, this is an indication that growth has ceased for the 

 season, and maturation commenced. This must be assisted by the admission 

 of more air and by a cooler temperature until, towards the middle of August, 

 the young vine is placed in a sunny position out-of-doors, there to remain 

 until winter frost and rains make shelter desirable. During wet weather the 

 pot should be laid on its side to prevent saturation of the soil. The future 

 of the seedling must be shaped as the grower desires ; it may be either 

 planted in a border during winter, or cut back to two buds in January and 

 repotted in a 1 2-inch pot. It will make a strong cane in the course of the 

 season if grown in the same temperature as advised for the seedling vine, and 

 will bear fruit the year following. 



Another method of propagating the vine is to tie a piece of turf to the spur 

 immediately underneath the bud as it is about to break into growth. As the 

 young shoot expands it will emit roots into the turf, which must, when full of 

 these, be placed in a 6-inch pot filled with soil, and supported in its position 

 by being tied to the trellis. The pot will soon be full of roots, then the 

 shoot may be severed from the vine. The cutting away must be done gradually, 

 severing the spur a little at a time. This mode of propagation is not often 

 resorted to, but in cases of emergency it is often found useful. 



By Buds. — The best method of propagation, and the only one usually 

 practised in England, is by means of buds or " eyes." Cut out a piece of a 

 shoot of the vine with a good bud in the centre. It should be i^ inch long, 

 and the side underneath the bud cut away to the depth of about an ^ of an 

 inch. Insert it cut side downwards in a 3-inch pot filled with turfy loam, the 

 bud being just visible above the soil. Secure firmly by well pressing the soil. 

 It should be placed in the propagating house, or some other convenient 

 structure where there is plenty of heat and moisture. It will not be long before 

 the bud commences to grow, and at the same time roots will issue from each 

 end and from the cut base of the shoot, filling the pot within a short time. 



As soon as the young vine has filled its pot with roots, and is 10 inches or 

 I foot high, it must be shifted into a 7-inch pot, using for this potting a soil 

 composed of tough fibrous loam pulled into pieces the size of a pigeon's egg, 

 with most of the loose soil sifted out of it. To a barrow-load of this add 

 a 6-inch potful of bone dust, the same of quickhme, and about a peck of 

 old mortar rubble broken to the size of marbles ; when well mixed this 

 makes an excellent compost for encouraging root formation. When repotted 



