February i, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
65 
- Propagating Grape Vines. - 
hints are necessary, but, although quite 
hardy, it is advisable to place a layer of 
ashes or similar material around the 
plants to prevent all possibility of loss 
should the winter be exceptionally severe. 
Gaillardias have a preference for a sunny 
aspect, but will also flourish in the shade. 
They are particularly valuable in dry 
summers, as they seem almost proof 
against the effects- of drought. These 
charming plants are very cheap, so if 
one’s pocket will allow, I should counsel 
buying only named sorts, for the addi¬ 
tional outlay will be more than compen¬ 
sated by the increased beauty and size of 
the blooms. The following varieties I 
can confidently commend :— 
Bassanio, blood red, edged yellow, dark 
disc; Buffalo Bill, golden yellow, maroon 
disc, quilled, extra large flower; Dark¬ 
ness, dark magenta, light yellow edge; 
Duke of Portland, yellow, shaded bronze; 
Lord Charles Beresford, yellow, pale, red 
disc ; Magenta King, magenta, with a pale 
gold edge, the flower resembling, whilst 
being a decided improvement on, “Dark¬ 
ness" ; Molton Sea, light bronze, gold 
edge; Naples Yellow, pale yellow, with 
disc of same colour which has a pale red 
ring; Oliver Wendell Holmes, very simi¬ 
lar to “Bassanio”; Phenomenal, yellow 
and crimson, quilled; Rosebud, rose col¬ 
our, shaded magenta, edged yellow, 
quilled ; and Rose of Huish, flesh colour, 
streaked with carmine. 
It is very easy when one has a few of 
these plants to increase one’s stock. 
There are four methods of propagation, 
viz., from seeds, cuttings,, layering, and 
root division. 
Gaillardia seed may be sown any time 
during the summer for the ensuing year s 
flowering, or in the early spring for flower¬ 
ing the same year; but in either case the 
sowing must be made under glass. 
The new shoots issuing from the root of 
a plant should be the ones selected for 
cuttings, but a cold frame will be needed 
in which to strike them. The early 
autumn is the most suitable for this work. 
Layering is my favourite method of 
propagation, and is perhaps the most 
simple of all. Bend to the ground a suit¬ 
able shoot of recent growth, and peg it 
down with one or more long hair pins 
about two inches - below the surface of the 
soil, after making an incision under an 
eye. This may be done any time during 
the summer. 
The fourth and last of propagation by 
root division is an excellent one, and al¬ 
though some gardeners say October is the 
month for the operation, I prefer doing 
it in the spring as soon as the weather 
becomes sufficiently mild and genial, as 
I think I thus minimise the risk of loss. 
This operation of breaking up the clumps 
should be performed in any case every 
few years, as soon as from observation one 
can see that the old plants have become 
poor and worn out. 
I know of no hardy perennial that will 
prove more satisfactory and yield a 
greater abundance of bloom, whether re¬ 
quired for house decoration or garden 
adornment, than the showy Gaillardia. 
The blooms are very durable, and if 
picked in sprays for the vases, the buds 
will open in water. 
E. W. Dallman Page, F.R.H.S. 
Of the several methods of raising Grape 
Vines, that known as propagation from 
eyes is by far the simplest and best and 
also the most general. “Eye” is the term 
applied to a bud taken from a Vine shoot 
with a small portion of wood attached on 
either side of the bud, a good average 
length to make the eyes being one and a 
half inches. Medium-sized shoots are 
better for cutting into eyes than very 
stout shoots, but whatever wood is se¬ 
lected for this purpose, it is important 
that it should be well ripened and hard 
and the buds plump and firm. When the 
Vines are pruned, the pieces to be cut 
into eyes should be bundled together and 
be planted butt end downwards in a heap 
of soil until the eyes are to be inserted, 
the end of January or early February 
being the best time. 
There are several ways of cutting and 
preparing the eyes, fig. 1. herewith, illus¬ 
trating a portion of a Vine shoot with 
cross-lines indicating three different ways 
of cutting out the eyes A, B and C. Com¬ 
post consisting of three parts fine loam, 
one part leaf mould, and one-sixth part 
silver sand and fine charcoal is suitable 
and the eyes are best inserted singly in 
three-inch, well-drained pots, each being 
pressed firmly into the soil so that.the bud 
is just visible above the surface as shown 
in figs. 2, 3 and 4. The compost should 
be in a moist condition at the time of 
potting, in order to avoid having to apply 
water for several weeks, a light spraying 
with the syringe every day being all that 
is necesgary and desirable. 
The pots should be plunged as shown in 
fig. 4 in a propagator with a bottom heat 
of from 65 degs. to 75 degs. Keep close, 
and in a- short time the base of each eye 
will callus over, the bud burst into growth 
and roots be emitted as shown in fig. 5, 
when just a little air may be admitted, 
and as soon as top growth is some one 
and a half or two inches long, the pots 
should be removed from the propagator 
and be plunged in some material giving 
off a steadv bottom heat, on the green¬ 
house bench, the temperature before men¬ 
tioned being maintained as much as pos¬ 
sible. When the small pots are well 
filled with roots repot the plants into six- 
inch pots, and when they are again estab¬ 
lished, a slightly lower temperature will 
suffice. 
* \ T ^ m.. <■ ‘ 
Propagating Vines from Eyes. 
Ortus. 
