GRAPES 
A Yakima Valley Vineyard. 
that the boundaries of areas inhabited 
by the wild species of a given region 
coincide with those suited to the produc- 
tion of the domesticated plant in that 
region. It is not possible to tell where 
the grape-growing regions of the future 
are to be located; for species and indi- 
viduals of that fruit are so common that 
no one can say where the grape in 
America is most at home. 
“Second, grapes are so variable and 
plastic in their nature that they yield 
readily to improvement. Besides being 
variable, they hybridize freely and thus 
the plant breeder can obtain valuable 
starting points. There are indications 
that some of the characters of the grapes 
follow Mendel’s law of ‘the inheritance by 
the offspring of the dominant traits,’ and 
when once these have been determined, 
and the more important unit characters 
segregated and defined, it ought to be 
possible to rearrange and combine the 
characters of this fruit with some system, 
and surely with more certainty than in 
the past. GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Propagation 
The Scuppernong grapes of the South 
are almost exclusively increased by means 
of layerage. For this purpose the vine 
is pulled down in spring and covered 
with soil at intervals of two feet. Another 
method now in common use is to lay the 
new canes in shallow trenches in early 
spring and cover only two or three 
inches deep. When each node has thrown 
up a shoot a foot long earth is piled in 
about them, when they will take root. 
If the vine be slightly twisted or other- 
wise bruised at the points where covered, 
they will readily take root and form 
strong plants during the season. Late in 
fall or the following spring, the vine may 
be cut into sections, each part having 
roots being a separate plant. 
Nearly all of the many scores of va- 
rieties root readily from cuttings. Grape 
cuttings should be made in early winter 
before there has been a hard freeze, from 
wood of the last season’s growth. Vines 
with the joints close together make better 
cuttings than those having the joints far 
apart. Begin at the butt end of the vine, 
cutting it off squarely just below a joint 
or node. Counting this joint one, skip 
two more joints and cut the vine off at 
least two inches above the third one. It 
is best to have at least three joints for 
each cutting, although it is not absolutely 
