PROPAGATING THE GRAPE BY CUTTINGS, 
[Special Correspondence of Moore's Rural New-Yorker.] 
A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA. 
Much attention is being paid to the propagation 
of new varieties of grapes by cuttings. Somo of ua 
young farmers, who have become amateur fruit 
growers, would like to know how this ia done, aa 
I for one have been somewhat unsuccessful.—A 
Young Amateur. 
Since there him been a good deal of excitement 
on the grape question, and vines of some now 
varieties have been scarce and dear, our nursery¬ 
men have propagated grapes in houses very rap¬ 
idly. This process we will not at present describe. 
We will endeavor to givo all the information 
I needed by a young amateur. The soil for all 
cuttings should bo well prepared, mollow, finely 
pulverized and moderately rich. Propagation by 
cuttings consists in causing a shoot to grow by 
detaching it from the parent tree and planting it 
in the ground, at tho proper Beason and under 
favorable circumstances for the development of 
roots. All fruit trecB may bo grown from cut¬ 
tings, but only a very few grow with sufficient 
ease to muko it desirable or profitable to propa¬ 
gate them la this way. The gooseberry, currant, 
vino and quince, of our common fruits, are gen¬ 
erally grown in tlii.s way. 
A cutting ia a shoot or part of a shoot, and 
generally of one season’s growth. A foot is the 
proper length for cuttings, for ordinary out-door 
culture, though under some circumstances a 
single eye or joint la used. We give an engra¬ 
ving, which we have altered from Haury’s Fruit 
Hook, to suit onr purpose aa well aa our columns, 
showing tho different forms of cuttings as well 
as tho manner of planting. The wood should bo 
aa stout and matuio as possible, and should bo 
cut close and smoath to a bud at both ends, as 
All nation* represented in California — Her strides to 
wealth and power — Eighty years ago — Twelve years 
since — IFhen and by whom Lower California was dis¬ 
covered—Jesuit missions — Their fate — Catholicism — 
Protestantism — Wild oat fields — Their beauty and 
utility, 
Yolo Co., [Cal.) au*. 1, 1?C0. 
California is a world in miniature! Her 
countless treasures have tempted hither hordes 
of Huns from the Atlantic States, from Europe, 
Asia, Mexico, and the islands of the sea. Califor¬ 
nia should be pre-eminently national, She has 
drawn her sons from every State,— from every 
nation, aud from every quarter of tho globe. 
Congregated under the broad aegis of American 
liberty, they affiliate and unite their destinies, and 
by their combined faith and energies, have built 
up a State, which, liko tho fabled Minerva, ha3 
leaped into existence full armed, and in her strides 
for wealth and power, out rivals the oldest and 
strongest communities on the continent! It 
remains for California to exhibit to th® gaze of 
the world, a rapidity of growth, improvement, and 
progress, in ever)thing that makes up the mate¬ 
rial greatness of a State, uneyualed by anything 
heretofore presented to the gaze of the American 
people! 
The “ Giant West’’ has navigated the lakes,ford¬ 
ed the Mississippi, scaled the Rocky Mountains, 
and at length descended the Pacific slopes, and 
here on tho shores, laved by the waters of the 
largest ocean on the globe, gathers fresh inspira¬ 
tion and new strength, and puts forth a power 
that strikes the world with astonishment 
“ O'er mountain, prairie, river,—fast and far, 
Westward, still westward! speeds the blazing star 
Of Progress and of Empire,—till, beheld, 
It stands high poised above the hills of gold; 
Its o.ircnit flnuhud and its course complete, 
Hero, whore the Occident aud Orient meet, 
Whore California in her glittering robe, 
Sits by the ocean-highway of the globe; 
And looking o'er the seas Id queenly state, 
Takes the world's tribute at her Golden Gate.” 
In 1770,—eighty-four years since,—the uninter¬ 
rupted winds werO drifting across the saiul hills 
of this coast, and making merry pastime with the 
dust of centuries,— tho only inhabitants the dull 
savages, to whom Powhatan and Tkcumhku were 
as demi-gods. The spot where now stands the Me¬ 
tropolis of the Pacific, was hidden away by low 
buttes and solitary bays, and sank deep in the 
tides of the sea,—a sea undisturbed by any keel. 
There was no "rupture on thiB lonely shore.” 
ELK PH A N'T HUNTING IN TH HI FOrtKSTV 
We present Roral readers a view of oue of the 
modes of hunting the Elephant, and, in connec¬ 
tion therewith, extract from the “ Adventures of 
Travelers in Africa ” the experiences of some of 
tho elephant Blayers. 
Lieutenant Hoodie had recently joined the 
semi-military settlement of Fredericksburg, where 
his party had already Bhot many elephants, with 
which tho country at that time abounded. On 
one occasioned he witnessed an elephant hunt 
for tho first time, when a large female was killed, 
after some hundred shots had been fired at her. 
At first the balls seemed to produce little effect, 
but at length she received several shots In the 
trunk and eyes, which entirely disabled her from 
resisting or escaping, and she thon became an 
easy prey to her assailants. On the following 
day one of the servants atated that a large troop 
of elephants was iu the neighborhood of the 
settlement, and that several of the people were 
on their way to attack them. Moodle instantly 
set out to join the hunters, but did not overtake 
them till after they had driven the elephants 
from their first station. On getting out of tho 
jungle he was proceeding through an open mead¬ 
ow to the spot where he heard the tiring, when 
source; and turning off at right angles, in the 
opposite direction, he made for the banks ot the 
small river, intending to take refuge among the 
rocks on the other side, where he felt he should 
be safe. 
But before he got within fifty paces of the 
river the elephants were within twenty paces ol 
him—the large female in the middle, and the 
other three by her sides, apparently with tho in* 
tention of making sure of their victim—ali ot 
them sorearning so tremendously that ho was 
almost stunned with their noise. Immediately 
he turned round, cocked his gun, and aimed ut 
the head of the largest elephant. Unfortunately 
tho gun hung fire, till he waa in the act of taking 
it from his shoulder, when it wont off, the ball 
grazing merely the side of her head. Halting 
only for an instant, the elephant again dashed 
furiously forward. He fell; but could not remem¬ 
ber whether he was struck by her trunk or not 
She then made a thrust at him with her tusk. 
Luckily for Moodie, she had only one, which, 
still more luckily, missed its mark ; but it 
plowed up the earth within an inch or two oi 
his body. 
She thon caug’it him with her truuk by tho 
middle, threw him between her fure feet, and 
knocked him about for some time. Once she 
pressed her foot on his cheBt with Buch force 
that he actually felt, as it were, the bones bend¬ 
ing under the weight; and once she trod on the 
middle of hia arm, winch, lortunatoly at tho 
time, lay fiat on tho ground. In these critical 
circumstances, he happlU never entirely lost his 
recollection, or they would most likely have 
proved fatal. Hat owing to the roundncsB of her 
seen in figure 1. Cuttings, taken off closely to 
tho old wood, with the base attached, as in figure 
2, are more certain to grow than when out at any 
point abovo, and in the quince an inch or two of 
the old wood left attached renders success moro 
certain. The philosophy of tho matter Is that 
the descending wood forming sap forces out roots 
at the lower end of the shoot, and thus the cut¬ 
ting becomes a now plant. The more buds that 
can be got around the base of a cutting the bet¬ 
ter, for these buds, as Boon as they become active, 
send down new matter for the formation of roots. 
Scarce varieties of grapes are propagated by 
eyes having about two inches of wood attached, 
as seen in figure 4, and success is supposed by 
many to be more certain whero the joint is halved 
before planting, as shown in figure 5, When this 
mode is adopted it is usual to plant the eyes 
about half an inch deep in light soil in a hot-bed, 
or in pots in a propagating house. 
Cuttings should bo inserted so deep that only 
two buds will bo above the surface of the soil, 
and in the vine only one. Vine cuttings it is 
well to make long, hut they need not be set up¬ 
right so as to be out of the reach of heat and air, 
but sloping, as we have endeavored to show In 
figure 3. They may be set much more sloping 
than we have been able to exhibit in the engra¬ 
ving, from lack of room. 
Cuttings may be made any time during the fall 
or early winter. It should always be done before 
the buds begiu to swell. A soil for cuttings 
should be mellow and warm, yet sufficiently com¬ 
pact to retain moisture. Those who try to grow 
them in a hard, baking, compact soil, or one low 
and wet, or dry and sandy, will assuredly fail. 
Very early in the spring ia the beat time, all 
thingB considered, to plant cuttings. If it is 
delayed until late, the warm weather starts tho 
leaves before sufficient roots are formed to supply 
tho demand they make for sustenance, and the 
cutting dries and perishes. Those who grow 
only a few outtings could shade them, or spread 
sawdust about them, to preserve an even temper¬ 
ature. 
Cuttings mado in the fall may be buried out of 
doors in a pit where the water will not stand. A 
mound of earth should be mado over the pit to 
throw oil the water. Particular attention should 
be given to cuttings after planting, to keep the 
weeds destroyed and the ground in a mellow 
condition. 
peared in smoke. Aguin it appeared, revised and 
considerably enlarged, and was again swiftly 
transformed to asbeBl Unconquered, the city 
struggled, as if endowed with self-creative energy, 
ityo a third existence, and now numbers 100,000 
inhabitants —the largest city of ils age in the world- 
Lower California waa discovered by Cortbz in 
1531, but it was not uutil 1097 that the Spaniards 
began to interest themselves seriously in the Cali¬ 
fornians. It was then that the Jesuits came to 
preach the Gospel to the Indians, and initiate 
them into civilization. They planted twenty-two 
missions, embracing the whole country between 
San Diego and San Francisco. These monuments 
of the days of the Spanish Jesuits are fast crum¬ 
bling to ruin, and probably in another quarter of 
a century the plowshare will pass where stately 
churches and cloisters once rose, or warehouses 
and private residences be erected on the site. 
For moro than 150 years Catholicism held 
undisputed away along this western coast. Pro¬ 
testantism began her mission on the other coast 
a little earlier, and in the interim has traveled up 
and down the continent into the interior, and 
doubling Cape Horn, has unfurled the Banner of 
the Cross in the valleys and mountains of Califor¬ 
nia and Oregon; and here, in theso ends of the 
earth, is silently, yet surely, moulding the genius 
of their institutions after her divine and progres¬ 
sive spirit. Let the picture be called up and 
viewed in all its distinctive beauty. Let it be 
created by your nimble fancy, and held up iu all 
its bewitching imagery to your mental vision. 
Think of the peace and plenty, the intelligence, 
the thrift, the power, the schools, and churches, 
and happy homes, the capitals that are the foun¬ 
tain-heads of equal and beneficent laws, which 
gird the track of emigration for the last forty 
years. Think how the wilderness has been in¬ 
vaded by axe and fire, the prairies plowed, the 
marshes drained, the rivers bridged, the water¬ 
falls harnessed to useful toil, the lakes skirted by 
railroads, and farrowed by hurrying ships, to her¬ 
ald the advent and compact the power of Pro¬ 
testant civilization; and then, after illumining 
the central wastes, over which the buffalo are 
tramping, aud through which the wagons of the 
stout-hearted emigrants are slowly plodding,— 
think how civilization has scaled the mountain 
tops and traveled down the slopes that overlook 
the waveB of the Pacific. Think of the hundreds 
and thousands of Americans scattered all through 
the mountains and valleys, the towns and villages, 
of this infant State. Think of the harvests that are 
waving where, ten years since, they saw unculti¬ 
vated wastes. Think of the bloom which in that 
* Arrival at San Francisco of the first Spanish Mission 
Expedition in A. D. 1776. 
Mediterranean Sea, where it is procured by 
diving, and also by dredging, or dragging the 
bottom of the ocean. The best sponge,—which 
is white and fine,—comes from Turkey; the in¬ 
ferior and coarse kinds from the coast of Barbary. 
Ten or eleven kinds of sponge are found on the 
coast of England—none of them, however, are 
fit for use. 
short time has supplanted the desert. Think of 
the cities that have Bprung up, large and prosper-1 
ous, where the arid soil, not twelve years since, 
waa only whitened with tents. Think of the com¬ 
merce that ha3 been opened, attracting fleets of 
merchantmen from nearly every muratlme port 
on the globe! Think of the noble institutions that 
have pushed aside, and overshadowed the haunts 
of evil all over the face of a country that seemed 
in its first settlement to be threatened by a moral 
desolation, more dreary than its isolated situa¬ 
tion,—remote from the great centers of influence 
and civilization. Think how the spirit of religion 
and education bus opened, by Artesian icells, the 
renovating streams of intellectual and everlasting 
life. Think of this and a thousand fold more, and 
decide whether I’rotestaut Christianity has not aa 
inherent and heavenly power, well nigh Omnipo¬ 
tent. 
California is termed “the Golden State.” This 
is by no means a misnomer. Its numerous and 
lofty mountains are inexhaustible storehouses of 
the precious metals. 
“From that sapphire fount, the fretted brooks, 
Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, 
Run nectar, visiting the land below,” 
Its pastoral buttes, aud arable valleys, possess 
vast stores of agricultural wealth. Her land¬ 
scapes wear, all through the summer months, the 
richest gulden tint. Millions of acres are lite¬ 
rally mantled with the drapery of yellow grain, 
strewn by Natuie’a profuse hand, all over their 
wide extent. Hundreds of thousands of cattle, 
and sheep, and horses, run riot in these natural 
oat fields. This luxuriant wilderness of wild 
grain resembles a vast sea of molten gold! Altho’ 
it is dry, criBp, aud sear, having dolled its coat of 
green for one of richer hue, and is now garnered 
where, and ns it grew, it is nevertheless of priceless 
valae to the vast hordes of stockmen, ranchers, 
and shepherds, who oocupy the mountain slopes 
that overlook the dark, blue sea. s. b. r. 
•The following 
Resistance to Improvements. 
from Archbishop Whately’s Annotations on Ba¬ 
con's Essays, is a rich literary and scientific gem: 
It was the physicians of the highest standing 
that most opposed Harvey. It was the most 
experienced navigators that opposed Columbus’ 
views. It waB those most conversant with the 
management of the post-office that were the last 
to approve of the plan of the uniform penny pos¬ 
tage. For the greater any one’s experience and 
skill in his own department, and the more he is 
entitled to tho deference which is proverbially 
dae to ouch man in his own province, tho more 
likely, indeed, he will be to be a judge of im¬ 
provements iu details, or even to introduce them 
himself; but tho more unlikely to givo a fair 
hearing to any proposed radical change. An 
experienced stage-coachman ia likely to be a good 
judge of all that relates to turnpike roads and 
coach horses; but you should not consult him 
about railroads aud steam carriages. Again, 
every one knows bow slowly and with what diffi¬ 
culty farmers are prevailed on to adopt any new 
ystem of husbandry, cveu when the faults of an 
old-e<Aabliahed usage, aud the advantages of a 
change, can be made evident to tho senses. 
THE SPONGE. 
The Late Comet. —According to information 
received from Prof. Schmitz of Cologne, the 
comet which has just disappeared is Prof. Lex- 
ell’s. The perihelium is one hundred and fifty 
million miles. It was first seen on the 20th of 
February by the astronomer of tho observatory 
in Pernambuco, and put down as a new double 
comet. Its orbit is southerly, with three degrees 
inclination north of our earth. It has now dis¬ 
appeared, aud will be back In three years’ time. 
Its first, appearance in A. D. 173, was accompanied 
by an earthquake; iu 303, according to Fiocken- 
bach, it was seen in the daylight; in 1770, it was 
only one million eight hundred thousand miles 
distant from our earth, and caused great confu¬ 
sion among astronomers. 
Said a distinguished American statesman to a 
debating club of young men:—“ Life ts a book of 
which we can have but one edition. Aa it is first 
prepared, it must stand forever. Let each day’s 
actions, as they add another page to the inde- 
structrble volume, be such as that we shall be 
willing to have an assembled world read it.” 
Good advice. 
The Bibli? has been translated into 200 lan¬ 
guages and dialects, and ia ready for 000,000,000 of 
the inhabitants of tho earth; but only 100 , 000,000 
have, as yet, received it. In the colleges of onr 
laud, containing last year about 5,000 students, 
2,000 are members of the church, of whom nearly 
1,000 were added the previous year. Dr. Duff 
states that about 1,000 pupils are in regular at¬ 
tendance on the Mission School under his care 
in Calcutta. 
The secret of one’s success or failure in nearly 
every enterprise, is usually contained in the an¬ 
swer of the question,—how earnest is he? 
