SELECT LISTS OF PLANTS. 



303 



V 





cord — sometimes give pure white or greenish-colored varieties, even in 

 absence of any attempt to cross-f ertilize the flowers. StUI, it is always 

 best to empjoy artificial fertilization where hybrids or any intermirture 

 of varieties ai-e desired ; for, if such operations 

 are left to chance, the results are very uncertain. 

 Grape seeds should be removed from the fruit 

 when ripe, and then mixed with sand and pre- 

 served in a moist condition until spring, then 

 sown in hoxes under glass or in the open ground, 

 and covered about one-half inch deep. For the 

 hardy species, the seeds will germinate more 

 freely if placed where they wUl freeze during 

 winter than if stored where no frost wUl reach 

 them. Mice are usually so abundant, and so fond 

 of grape seeds, that it is seldom safe to sow them 

 in the fall, otherwise this would be the best plan, 

 and for all kinds. The seedlings should be trans- 

 planted into nursery rows when a year old, and 

 the plants set out about four feet apart each way 

 and trained to a single cane and a stake until they 

 bear fruit, then those worth preserving may be 

 increased by any of the usual methods of propar 

 gation and the others destroyed. But with the 

 most careful selection of parent plants to raise 

 seedlings from, the chances are not more than 

 one in a thousand of obtaining a variety superior 

 — or even equal— to the best of those already in 

 cultivation. I do not say this to discourage any 

 one who has the inclination and time to spend in 

 making experiments in this direction, for we need 

 far better varieties of the native Grape than any 

 we now possess ; but multiplying varieties with- 

 out a corresponding advance in the intrinsic 

 merits of those produced has already gone far 

 enough — in fact, too fai-, for the general good of 

 this branch of horticulture. The most common 

 modes of propagating the grape are by cuttings, 

 layers, and grafting. In making what are called 

 ripe wood cuttings, the past season's growth is 

 used; that is, shoots that have been produced 

 during the summer are taken for cuttings in the 

 fall. That which is strong, vigorous and well 

 ripened is to be preferred, but overgrown canes 

 do not always make the best cuttings, or strike 

 root as readily as those of medium size. The 

 best length for cuttings is a moot point. Among 

 vineyardists in Europe they use very long cut- 

 tings, while we prefer much shorter ones, and thinir that we know that 



Fig. 100. 



GEAPE CUTTING. 



