754 



PRACTICE OF GARDENING. 



Paet III. 



4803. Propagation. The vine is propagated from seed, layers, cuttings, grafting, and 

 inoculation. By seed, for the sake of obtaining new varieties ; by layers, to get strong 

 showy plants the first year ; by cuttings, for economy in management, and to get plants 

 ■with tops proportioned to their roots ; and by grafting and inoculation, for various useful 

 and curious purposes. 



4804. £t/ seed. The first thing is to select the seeds. If the object be to propagate an esteemed variety 

 from which cuttings cannot be obtained, or to procure a subvariety of any esteemed sort, then select the 

 largest and best-ripened berries from the largest and best-formed bunches, out of which to take the seeds. 

 But if the object be to procure an entirely new variety, then the first preparatory steps must betaken 

 when the vines are in flower, either by bringing two or more sorts so near together as that the pollen of 

 the anthers may effect a promiscuous impregnation, as was practised by Speechly ; or by cutting out, with 

 small scissors, the stamens from the flowers to be impregnated, before their anthers had burst, and in- 

 troducing the pollen of the variety with which it is to be crossed or impregnated, by dusting the stigma 

 with the ripe anthers, as was practised by Knight. This is the most certain and effectual method ; the 

 most certain, because if the blossom destined to bear seeds be fecundated or set, it must evidently have 

 been set through the influence of the stranger pollen ; and the most effectual, because the stranger pollen 

 operating alone must have more influence on the progeny than when operating in conjunction with that 

 of the blossom to be crossed. 



4805. As some guide for the selection of sorts to breed from, (to borrow the phraseology of a sister art,) 

 we may state, that the legitimate object which ought to be had in view, should not merely be to obtain a 

 nei\) variety, but one, either superior in the size, both of the bunch and berry, superior in flavor and de- 

 licacy of skin and flesh, superior in point of hardiness and bearing, or in earliness or lateness. In coilnec - 

 tion with each of these particulars, the form of the bunch, and the length of the foot-stalk of the fruit, 

 and even the size of the leaves and the length of their foot-stalks, are also objects deserving attention ; 

 close-gi'owing grapes, which always have short foot-stalks, being subject to many misfortunes. " All the 

 sorts of Frontignac grapes," Speechly observes, " are proper to add an excellency of flavor to other 

 kinds : but there is a superior richness in the black, blue, and red Frontignacs ; and they do not partake 

 so much of the strong muscat flavor as the white and grizzly do. But it must be considered, that the 

 blue Frontignac grows close upon the bunch, and therefore is only proper to be coupled with the loose- 

 growing kinds, that have long foot-stalks. The white muscat of Alexandria produces large loose-growing 

 bunches, and the berries being very large and well flavored, it must be a jiroper kind to be coupled with 

 many sorts. There is a peculiar delicacy in the flesh of the white sweetvvater ; it is also a remarkably 

 thin-skinned grape, with large berries ; consequently, it is a proper kind to couple with various sorts that 

 are small and less delicate. Were the red Frontignac and white sweetwater wedded together, their 

 union would probably produce a very valuable sort, as there would be a good chance of its being both 

 large and delicate, and well flavored. The Syrian vine is only admired for producing most astonishingly 

 large bunches, and, therefore, I would not advise the joining this coarse sort to any other except the fol- 

 lowing, as, in all likelihood, the offspring would only produce bunches much less ponderous. But the 

 white muscat of Alexandria, having larger berries and longer foot-stalks, there would be a probability of 

 producing a kind between this and the Syrian grape, that would exceed the original parents both in size 

 and flavor." The following kinds also admit of a junction with great propriety, viz. " the black Damascus 

 and grizzly Frontignac; the flame-colored Tokay and red Frontignac ; the white muscat of Alexandria 

 and white sweetwater ; the black Frontignac and white muscadine ; the St. Peter's grape and white mus- 

 cat of Alexandria." Other examples might be cited, but these Speechly considers as " sufficient to stimu- 

 late persons of taste and curiosity to pursue an amusement that one may venture to pronounce will con- 

 tribute both to their advantage and pleasure." He augurs, " that the best sort of grapes hitherto known 

 will at some future day be esteemed only as secondary kinds." {Treatise on the Vine, p. 44.) Neill observes, 

 tliat as several persons are now engaged in the raising of seedling vines, in all probability some excellent 

 and hardy kinds will soon be produced ; so that another generation may once more see vineyards com- 

 mon in this country. {Ed. En. art. Hort.) Grapes, for seed, should be permitted to remain on the 

 plant till the fruit is perfectly mature, and the seeds of a very dark brown color. They should be sepa- 

 rated from the pulp, and preserved till February or the beginning of March. They should then be sown 

 in pots filled with light fresh mould, and plunged in a moderately warm hot-bed ; they will come up in 

 four or six weeks, and when the plants are about six inches high, they should be transplanted singly, 

 into forty-eights, and afterwards into pots of larger size. Water gently, as circumstances require, allow 

 abundance of light and air, and carefully avoid injuring any of the leaves. Cut down the plants every 

 autumn to two good buds, and suffer only one of these to extend itself in the following spring. Shift into 

 larger pots as occasion requires, till they have produced fruit. This, under good management, will take 

 place in the fourth or fifth year, when the approved sorts should be selected and the rest destroyed, or 

 used as stocks on which to graft or inarch good sorts. 



4806. Forsyth, and some other authors, advise planting seedling vines the second year of their growth, 

 against a wall in the open air, and there letting them remain till they produce fruit. Where there is 

 abundance of v/alling to spare, and no great haste requisite for proving the fruit, this is a very good 

 mode, as the fruit in such a case is certain of growing larger, and therefore affording a better opportunity 

 of judging of its merits, as to size of bunch and berry. Keeping the plants in large pots, on the other 

 hand, though the bunches and berries may not grow quite so large, yet as both the wood and fruit may 

 be ripened under glass, is a more eligible mode ; the plants wiU produce fruit sooner, and that fruit will 

 be of better flavor. 



_ 4807. Speechly says, " it would not be prudent to furnish a wall, or any part of a hot-house, with seed- 

 ling vines in their untried state, or before they have produced fruit ; for although the prospect of obtain- 

 ing good kinds from seed saved in a hot-house, be more promising and certain than that of getting them 

 from seed of grapes ill vine countries, (because there, when the vines flower, the very air is impregnated 

 with the farina of the grapes of the vineyard, which are, generally, of sorts of harsh, austere qualities, 

 esteemed only for making wine, and not at all fit for eating) ; yet many of the new kinds from seed will 

 prove to be worse sorts than the originals from which the seed was saved. A specimen, therefore, of the 

 fruit should be obtained from each plant, be tried and tasted before it is permitted to be planted against 

 the walls in a vinery or hot-house, or in any permanent situation. The fruit of seedlings is not even 

 always such as to render it advisable to introduce the plants in a vineyard ; for though it may not have the 

 sweetness, flavor, bulk, or precocity desired in an eating grape, it inay be of that insipid large-berried 

 kind, which is fit only for making the most inferior wines. In most vine countries, a small black berry 

 with an austere taste, and aromatic flavor, and a close bunch like that of our black cluster, is preferred 

 to all others." {Treat on the Vine, 8vo. edit. p. 60.) It may be observed, that though vine-plants raised 

 from th^ seeds of black or red grapes wiU generally produce red or black berries, yet they wiU occasionally 

 produce white ones ; and the produce of white berries wiU sometimes, in like manner, be berries of other 

 colors. Thus plants, from stones of the peach, wiU sometimes produce nectarines ; and though a nec- 

 tarine-stone will, in general, produce a tree of the same kind, as Collinson experienced {Smith's Correspond, 

 of Linn. 71.), yet it will sometimes also, as the French gardeners declare, produce trees bearing peaches. 



4808, loT/ers. The advantages of layers are generally stated to" be that of pro- 

 curing large showy plants that come immediately into bearing, and we have given (2957. ) 



