84 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mabch, 
Fig. 1.—A ROOTED CUTTING 
Growing Grapes from Cuttings. 
While the Delaware and some other varieties 
of grapes can not he successfully grown from 
cuttings in the open air, the Concord, Hartford 
Prolific, and many others, root with ease, and 
may readily be multiplied in this way. It is 
customary to stick out the wood taken off in 
pruning, in any convenient place, and if any 
plants result, it is so much clear gain to the cul¬ 
tivator. If proper care be taken with cuttings, 
a large proportion of them will make plants. 
The bed for the cuttings should be of good, light 
soil, with plenty of old manure forked in to the 
depth of at least a foot. It is best to prepare the 
bed in autumn, but if that has not been done, 
let it be made ready as early as possible in 
spring. The cuttings should be of strong, well- 
ripeued wood, of last year’s growth. It is pre¬ 
sumed that this was taken off at the fall prun¬ 
ing, and preserved by burying. If the wood was 
not made into proper lengths when taken off, it 
can be done now by dividing it up into pieces 
about six inches long. The wood of some sorts 
will make cuttings of two buds each, while 
shorter jointed wood will have three or four 
buds upon a cutting of this length. Fig. 2 
shows the cutting as prepared for planting: the 
wood is pared off close to the lower bud, while 
it is cut off slanting at about an inch above the 
upper bud. As soon as the ground is in condi¬ 
tion in spring, the bed should be forked over 
and raked level. Then stretch a line across it, 
and by means of a spade open a trench about 
an inch deeper than the length of the cuttings. 
By putting the back of the spade to the line, the 
trench may be made with one side nearly per¬ 
pendicular. Set the cuttings about four inches 
drained should 
autumn the rooted cuttings 
are to be taken up, with care 
not to tear off the roots, and 
they will present the ap- \ s 
pearance of fig. 1. In the 
figure the shoot is represent¬ 
ed small in proportion, and 
to avoid confusion, the small 
fibres which cover all the 
roots are, shown upon a 
part only. The tops are to 
be cut back to three buds, 
and the roots shortened 
about one third, after which 
the plants may be set a foot 
apart in nursery rows, or be 
carefully heeled in. Some 
prefer to remove the lower 
portion of the cutting at 
transplanting. This may 
be done by dividing it just 
below the upper tier of 
roots, when it will be exact¬ 
ly in the condition of a vine 
started from a single eye. 
Those vines which can not 
be started from cuttings in 
the open ground, are grown 
from single eyes, set in pots 
of sand in a propagating 
house, where they can have 
bottom heat, or the pots 
may be placed in a hot-bed. 
For a description see Ful¬ 
lers’ forthcoming book on 
grape culture, from which 
these engravings are taken. 
apart, fill in about two inch¬ 
es of earth and, press it firm¬ 
ly around the lower part of 
the cuttings and then fill up 
with earth, so as to just cov¬ 
er the upper bud. The dot¬ 
ted line in fig. 2, shows where 
the earth should come. This 
will leave a shallow depres¬ 
sion the whole length of the 
rows, which rows may be 
two feet apart. When the 
shoot, which will of course 
start from the upper bud, 
has made a growth of four 
or five inches, the earth may 
be drawn in to completely fill 
the trench, this will cover 
the bud to the depth of an 
inch or more. The bed should 
be covered with two inches 
of litter to serve as a mulch. 
It is not unusual to have a 
growth of four or six feet 
the first season. The shoots 
should be kept tied up to 
stakes, as the wood will grow 
and ripen much better than 
when left to lie upon the 
ground. Some cultivators 
plant the cuttings in the fall 
and cover them with straw 
which is removed in spring, 
leaving enough for a mulch. 
Some varieties succeed when 
treated in this way, which 
will not if planted in spring. 
In fall planting in particular, 
a dry spot, or one well 
be selected for the bed. In 
What is Inside of a Plant. 
Fig. 2.— CUTTING 
FOR PLANTING. 
In the last Agriculturist (p. 48) it was stated 
that all plants are composed of an aggregation 
of minute closed cavities or cells, and figures of 
the simplest forms of these 
were shown, as they exist 
in the soft portions of plants, 
and make up what is called 
cellular tissue. It was also 
stated that these cells are 
so small that it requires 
the aid of a microscope to 
enable us to see them. 
Their size varies in different 
plants, but generally they 
are from 5 to 3 ^ 4 of an 
inch in diameter, requiring 
27 to 125 millions of them 
to make up the bulk of a 
cubic inch. The very young 
plant as it starts from the 5 - woodt fibre. 
seed, is mainly made up of the kind of cells 
described; but as it grows, some 
of the cells elongate and their walls 
thicken, forming what is called 
woody fibre or woody tissue , because 
it makes up the larger portion of 
the wood of trees and shrubs. When 
a portion of woody fibre is examin¬ 
ed under the microscope, it is seen 
to consist of numerous elongated 
cells (fig. 5), which taper at each 
end and so overlap one another as 
to give much greater strength to 
the fabric, than can be at¬ 
tained in the cellular tis¬ 
sue described in the last 
Fig. 6— spi- article (p. 49). Even ten- 
ral ducts, der herbs contain more or 
less of woody fibre, and in the 
leaves it forms the network of ribs 
or veins which give strength while 
the spaces between are filled with soft 
cellular tissue. The size of these wood 
cells is ordinarily from 21 nn> to TS Vo 
bass-wood bark, etc., 
so valuable for their 
fibres. When we look 
at a cross section of 
many woods — the 
end of the wood as it 
is called—we can see 
without the aid of a 
glass numerous open¬ 
ings or large pores. 
These are large cells, 
called ducts , which are 
intermingled with the 
proper woody fibre, 
and are especially no¬ 
ticeable in the wood 
of the grape vine. 
Fig. 7, represents one 
of the ducts from the grape vine; it is seen to be 
made up by the union of several short cells, plac¬ 
ed end to end. From the numerous dots which 
appear on their walls, they are called dotted ducts. 
These dots are not holes through the cell walls, 
but merely thin places in them. Similar thin 
spots are seen in ordinary woody tissue when 
highly magnified, but no openings are disc*ver- 
Fig. 8.—SPIRAL DUCTS 
IN LEAF. 
of an inch in diameter, and of a length ^| T ^ D 
varying from ^ 4T| - to ~ 2 of an inch. The duct. 
longest wood cells are found in the inner bark, 
and it is their flexibility and toughness which 
render flax, hemp, 
