65 
it is advisable to blend the grapes in the fermenting vats together, 
so as to insure their several component parts getting thoroughly 
incorporated with each other during the process of fermentation. 
this blending can be just as easily made in the suitable proportions 
without the different varieties of vines being grown indiscrimi- 
nately together. 
The advantages of keeping the varieties separate may thus 
be summed up:— 
1. The vines look more uniform in the field, and a more 
delicate and may be desirable variety of vine is not 
thus exposed to be dwarfed or choked in its growth 
by more common and more rustic vines. 
2. Varieties more liable to specific fungoid or other pests 
can receive appropriate dressings to ward off or 
keep down disease. 
3. Each variety can be trained and pruned as renuired. 
4. The picking ean be done in successtun by taking the 
varieties as they come to maturity in their proper 
order. 
The best way of stocking a vineyard is by using cuttings 
wherever the spring and summer months are moist enough, or rooted 
plants when there is a risk of a long spell of dry weather as is 
the case with us. Seedlings are never raised for extensive plant- 
ing, as they do not bear a erop until the fifth or sixth year at least, 
and besides, like most other intensely cultivated plants, vines 
sprung from seeds always show a tendency to sport and vary. 
The best cuttings are obtained from the middle portion of the 
bearing canes of the previous season, the wood being well sum- 
mered, keeping well, and striking root and budding readily. The 
shorter the cutting the stronger the vine. 
Very tender cuttings are those that grow quickest: but they 
are also very apt to perish, on account of the pithy condition of 
the wood, and are not to be relied on in dry seasons and open field 
cultivation. It often happens that the resulting plants are, besides, 
of a weak constitution. On the other hand, cuttings with hard 
and tough wood do not strike root so easily, and show a tendency 
to grow more wood than fruit. Whenever, therefore, it is possible, 
the middle part of a cane, of healthy summered wood, should be 
chosen from prolifie plants. 
Cuttings 10 inches to 14 inches long are the best for planting 
in this country, and only one of the buds should show above ground 
and not two or three as are often left. The complete covering of 
the cutting and of the terminal bud under some sand or loose soil, 
delays the growth of the leaves, which are the natural organs of 
evaporation of the plant, whilst the young rootlings take hold of 
the ground and supply food for the requirements of the young 
