506 



THE GRAPE. 



manure should be applied to vines in open borders, and this should, 

 every third or fourth year, be alternated with a dressing of slaked lime. 



Propagation. The grape-vine makes roots very freely, and is, 

 therefore, easy of propagation. Branches of the previous or current 

 year's wood, bent down at any time before midsummer, and covered with 

 earth, as layers, root very freely, and make bearing plants in a couple 

 of years, or very frequently indeed bear the next season. 



But the finer varieties of the vine are almost universally propagated 

 by cuttings, as that is a very simple mode, and an abundance of the cut- 

 tings being afforded by the annual trimming of the vines. 



When cuttings are to be planted in the open border, a somewhat 

 moist and shaded place should be chosen for this purpose. The cut- 

 tings should then be made of the young wood of the previous year's 

 growth, cut into lengths about a foot long, and having two or three buds 

 — one near the top, one at the bottom, and the third in the middle. 

 Before planting the cutting, pare off its lower end smoothly, close below 

 the buds, and finally plant it in mellow soil, in a slit made by the spade, 

 pressing the earth firmly about it with the foot.* 



The rarer kinds of foreign grapes are usually grown by cuttings of 

 shorter length, consisting only of two buds ; and the most successful 

 mode is to plant each cutting in a small pot, and plunge the pots in a 

 slight hot-bed, or place the cuttings at once in the mould of the bed itself. 

 In either case they will make strong plants in the same season. 



But the most approved way of raising vine plants in pots is that of 

 propagation by eyes, which we have fully explained in the first part of 

 this work. This, as it retains the least portion of the old wood, is mani- 

 festly the nearest approach to raising a plant from the seed, that most 

 perfect of all modes with respect to the constitution of a plant. In the 

 case of new or rare sorts, it offers us the means of multiplying them 

 with the greatest possible rapidity. As the grape usually receives its 

 annual pruning in autumn or winter, the cuttings may be reduced 

 to nearly their proper length, and kept in earth, in the cellar, until the 

 ensuing spring. The hardier sorts may be buried in the open ground. 



The foreign and the native grapes are very different in their habits in 

 this climate, and therefore must be treated differently. The native 

 sorts are cultivated with scarcely any further care than training up the 

 branches to poles or a trellis, and are, on this account, highly valuable 

 to the farmer ; while the European varieties are of little value in this 

 climate except with especial care, and are therefore confined to the 

 garden. 



1. Culture of the Foreign Grape. 



The climate of the temperate portion of this country, so favorable to 

 all other fruits, is, unfortunately, not so for the foreign Grape. This re- 

 sults, perhaps, from its variability, the great obstacle being the mildew, 



* In sandy or dry soils, to insure greater success, cover the upper end of the 

 cutting with grafting-wax, or something of the kind, to prevent evaporation. 

 The practice of growing grapes from single eyes, by making cuttings of one eye 

 each, and callosing them in sand, in the cellar or pit, has been recently renewed. 

 The cuttings are made of one eye each, placed in sand, in a cool cellar or shed, 

 free from frost, and in spring planted out, covering the bud half an inch or so 

 with soil, and over the whole spreading a mulch of tan-bark or sawdust one or 

 two inches deep. 



