THE GRAPE VINE. 



597 



stuck in the ground, and so kept till the end of 

 February or first of March. Some writers have 

 attached great importance to the selection of 

 cuttings from whence the eyes are to be taken, 

 and their reasoning is sufficiently good. Mr 

 Robertson chooses buds from vines that for 

 several years previously were started in Decem- 

 ber, and concludes that the young vine, inherit- 

 ing to a considerable extent the habit of the 

 parent, will hence be better adapted for starting 

 at so early a period. Mr Shortland chooses 

 such shoots as are upon the most productive 

 part of the vine, from a conviction that the 

 young plant will partake of a similar state of 

 fertility. The usual length of shoots produced 

 from a single eye the first season is about 4 or 

 5 feet; there have, however, been instances 

 where they have grown to the length of 30 feet. 



Coiling is a modification of propagating by 

 long cuttings ; but instead of using a piece of 

 wood 9 or 10 inches in length as in ordinary 

 cuttings, or of employing only little more than 

 2 inches of wood as in buds, here several feet 

 in length are chosen. According to Mr Mearns' 

 practice, if single rods be desired, then 4 or 5 

 feet only of coiled shoot is used, and from this 

 all the buds are removed excepting the upper- 

 most one. Narrow deep pots are used, and 

 within them the shoot is wound round in form 

 of a coil of rope, whence the name— the lower- 

 most coil being kept several inches above the 

 bottom of the pot, to provide room for the 

 roots to extend themselves. The bud and upper 

 end of the shoot are kept 2 inches below the 

 surface of the soil in the pot. The operation is 

 recommended to commence between the middle 

 of January and the end of March, and as soon 

 as placed in the pots they are plunged in a tem- 

 perature between 90° to 100°, where they re- 

 main until they require shifting into larger 

 pots, after which they are placed in a suitable 

 situation until November or December, when 

 they are again excited into growth. As the 

 shoot extends, it is trained upright until it 

 attains the height of from seven to ten joints, 

 at which time it is topped; after this, laterals 

 will begin to make their appearance, but these 

 must be displaced as they appear. If all has 

 gone on well, several buds will become excited 

 at the same time, in which case the shoots must 

 be cut down to the lowest excited eye, one shoot 

 only being allowed to remain, and that must be 

 carefully preserved, and divested of all laterals 

 and tendrils. When these shoots have attained 

 the height of 5 or 6 feet, which is the maximum 

 height required, they must be topped, leaving 

 the uppermost lateral, after being stopped 

 above its first joint, to carry off the remain- 

 ing sap. Towards the end of summer the 

 plants are removed to the open air, and set in a 

 warm sheltered place ; and when the wood is 

 ripe, the shoots are headed down to one, two, or 

 three eyes, according to their strength; they 

 are then placed in a cool northern exposure 

 until the weather becomes cold, when they are 

 again removed to a southern exposure like that 

 they occupied previous to heading down ; and 

 here the pots will require to be plunged, or, 

 better, well mulched with litter to exclude too 

 VOL. II. 



much cold, rain, and frost. The plants may be 

 brought into a pit or vinery from the middle of 

 December to the first of April, according to the 

 time the fruit is wished to be ripened. Those 

 first brought in had better have their shoots 

 coiled round three or four stakes placed in the 

 pots for the purpose, or a piece of strong wire 

 may be bent in form of an elliptical hoop, and 

 the shoots trained to it; the intention being, by 

 bending the shoots, to cause the buds to break 

 more regularly, which they would not do very 

 early in the season if placed in a perpendicular 

 position. From the time the plant is first ex- 

 cited until the fruit is changing colour, a slight 

 degree of bottom heat will be highly advanta- 

 geous to them. 



Propagating by layers. — This mode of propa- 

 gation is now nearly obsolete, although some 

 nurserymen still continue to propagate in this 

 manner, as attended with much less expense and 

 trouble. Another circumstance, we think, has 

 its influence also. Many gardeners are not con- 

 tent with small plants originated from single 

 eyes, but will have what they suppose to be fine 

 strong plants of 5 or 6 feet in length, without 

 considering that such plants, depending for their 

 existence mainly on the parent, and not on roots 

 entirely of their own, are found to be, when 

 turned out of the pots in which they have been 

 laid, almost devoid of roots altogether; and 

 should they, peradventure, have any, they con- 

 sist of two or three strong roots without fibres, 

 often extending beyond the limits of the pot, 

 and as often broken entirely off when the pots 

 are removed from the soil. Another reason in 

 favour of vines from layers is, they are some- 

 what cheaper than those from single eyes ; and 

 this even has its weight with some people. The 

 difference between vines propagated the one 

 way and the other is observable for years after 

 planting, and he must be a tyro indeed in vine- 

 culture who cannot discern it. The following 

 brief description will explain the process : A 

 strong shoot of the preceding year's growth is 

 taken from the wall, and bent so as to reach 

 about 3 inches under the surface of the border ; 

 the last eye, before it reaches the ground, is de- 

 stroyed, and the eye next above the surface be- 

 yond the part buried in the ground is carefully 

 left, as from it the young shoot is to proceed. 

 The soil being cleared away to the depth of 3 

 inches as above, the shoot is brought down to 

 that point and then bent upwards, and is kept 

 in its position by a pretty strong peg, and the 

 compressed soil over and around it. The top of 

 the shoot is cut away, leaving the bud we have 

 alluded to just above the ground-line. The vine 

 roots pretty freely in this way, but the great ob- 

 jection to it is the injury the young roots sus- 

 tain in autumn, when the layered plants are dug 

 up to be sold, potted, or otherwise disposed of. 

 Nurserymen, however, to avoid this evil, plunge 

 pots in front of the wall, or around their vine 

 stools, if they are grown in the open quarters, and 

 lay the shoots in them. In this way the young 

 plants may be removed when rooted with much 

 greater safety. Vines are also layered as follows, 

 especially when the shoot selected to be operated 

 upon is so inconveniently placed as to be with 



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