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vine. If more than one bud be too much exposed to air and light, 
leaf growth out of proportion with root growth exhausts the cut- 
ting which dies as the ground gets drier. 
Short-jointed cuttings are preferable, and they should not be 
taken from a vine attacked by any fungoid pest, such as anthracnose 
or oidium, etc., as they are, asa rule, less vigorous, and there is 
always the risk of propagating the disease and infecting the young 
vineyard with the disease. ! 
The fresher cut, the better will cuttings strike. It is not 
always possible though to get cuttings freshly pruned as they may 
have to be procured from distant parts. 
When sending them on a lengthy journey it is well to tie them 
into bundles of 100 to 200 each, and put around them some straw 
very slighly moistened with water, and wrapped up in more dry 
straw and then put in cradle cases or in gunny bags, which, on 
arrival, should be opened, the bundles taken out and placed in an 
open furrow in some well drained place of the vineyard. 
The best time for planting is early in the spring, in the 
moister districts, as at that time the surface soil has been 
sufficiently penetrated by the warmth of the atmosphere to favour 
the growth of the tender rootlets. In drier places, where the hot 
weather comes early and the rainfall gets scarce as the spring 
draws on, the planting should be done even earlier. 
Cuttings should only be planted under the best conditions, as 
‘failure to strike means added cost in replanting the season after 
and a longer time before the vineyard becomes productive. Should 
any doubt be entertained as to the striking capabilities of the 
euttings—and some varieties, such as the brown Muscat, for in- 
stance, are very hard to strike—the bundles are often taken from 
the trench where they have been lying, and placed a few inches 
deep into water. After three or four days, the bark gets sappy, 
and small wart-like swellings, covered with a little gummy sub- 
stance, show at the butt. The cuttings should then be planted 
without delay, as the rootlets of the plant soon break out and 
might possibly be damaged when handled. 
A single eye cutting produces a more vigorous root system 
than a cutting 10 to 12 inches long, and a medium size one will, in 
a similar manner, strike a better constituted root system than 
long cuttings 18 to 20 inches long, in which ease a distinct system 
of roots will come out in layers out of every joint, and will not 
be so 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. 
To assist these single eye cuttings striking, they are set in the 
spring in moist sand under glass frames, and when the shoots com- 
