If* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
227 
RURALISMS 
Questions About Grape Cuttings 
In putting out grape cuttings, is there 
any benefit by sticking each cutting into 
a small potato? Does the potato help the 
cutting take root? ✓ L. N. b. 
Mt. Vernon, Ill. 
I made some grape cuttings today, 
packed them in sawdust until Spring. A 
neighbor who lived in Germany when a 
small boy says his father used to cut 
them about Christmas time, tie them in 
bundles of 100. and stand them on end 
in tubs of water. In the Spring they 
would be well rooted. Is this good prac¬ 
tice ? J. F. 
Fiskeville, It. I. 
The writer is not familiar with the 
practice of placing grape cuttings in wa¬ 
ter over Winter, but the roots that are 
claimed to be developed therefrom by rea¬ 
son of this practice are of practically no 
use when the cuttings are struck in the 
Spring, as only those function that are 
thrown at this time. The usual practice 
is to cut in the Winter, tie in bundles 
with the butts at one end and heel them 
in, butts up, either in dirt or sand, in a 
cool cellar or outside in a well-drained 
spot. If they are carried over in the 
cellar the butts should be covered with a 
few inches of soil, and it may be neces¬ 
sary from time to time to moisten the soil 
a little. However, too much moisture is 
likely to start into growth. When the 
cuttings are heeled in outside, nature 
provides the necessary wetting. Outside 
they may be covered with from six to 
eight inches of soil. When the warnT 
sunny days of Spring come it is the usual 
practice to transfer the cuttings to a 
warmer soil, that, for example, has a 
Southern exposure. At this time they are 
heeled in like manner except that the 
butts are not covered so deeply. From 
time to time, as planting season ap¬ 
proaches. more and more soil is removed 
from them, and this induces callus forma¬ 
tion. The writer has been very success¬ 
ful in carrying cuttings over in cold 
frame. They are heeled in in a mixture 
of black loam and sand at first, and then 
in the Spring they are transferred to the 
other half of the frame of pure sand. 
It has been advocated by some who 
propagate the grape in a small way that 
cuttings root well when stuck into a small 
potato tuber; the writer has not seen this 
practiced. However, the methods above 
described are in general followed by the 
nursery interests with marked success, 
and it is evident that they are much 
easier to follow than the various sugges¬ 
tions that are offered from time to time. 
It is possible that when but a very limit¬ 
ed number of cuttings of a new or rare 
variety are available, one or other of the 
suggested methods might prove appliea- 
able. F. E. GLADWIN. 
Alpine Bellflower as a House Plant 
There has recently appeared in this 
place a window plant which is entirely 
new to me. It is a hanging plant, evi¬ 
dently easily grown, and when in bloom is 
literally covered with masses of five-pet- 
aled white flowers one inch or more in di¬ 
ameter. I have seen one plant with deep 
lavender bloom. Everybody calls it Star 
of Bethlehem, but I cannot learn the true 
name or where it first came from. I en¬ 
close sample of foliage and bloom. Can 
you tell me the true name and best meth¬ 
od of propagation and care? Is it a con¬ 
stant bloomer, and which give best results 
—young or old plants? s. s. c. 
Hardwick. Yt. 
The plant sent is an Alpine bellflower. 
Campanula isophylla alba. It is a per¬ 
ennial. and may be propagated by divis¬ 
ion of the crown, by seeds, or probably by 
cuttings of young shoots in early Spring. 
The plant blooms freely and would prob¬ 
ably give best results from fresh divisions 
etch year. This bellflower is a native of 
Northern Italy, and is not hardy in our 
Northern States. Like many other Al¬ 
pine plants, it does not like the hot dry 
Summers of our locality, but would prob¬ 
ably do better in Vermont, where the pots 
should be plunged outside in partial shade 
during Summer. The type. C. isophylla, 
has light blue flowers. It would be better 
to call this plant Alpine bellflower, for 
f(h'> common name Star of Bethlehem be¬ 
longs, by right of priority, to a pretty lit¬ 
tle nlant of the lily family. Ornithogalmn 
umbellatum, now naturalized in many 
places here, though a native of Europe. 
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