GRA 
GRA 
laws of nature, are also wanted; yet we 
may place the beginner in a position 
that will render his future operations 
less liable to error, and the acknowledged 
cultivator may also derive a hint from 
its perusal. 
Our limits will oblige us to be brief, 
and we shall avoid all speculation and 
confine ourselves to a statement of es¬ 
tablished practice. 
Propagation of esteemed varieties is 
performed in various ways : the simplest 
method is by layers, and is commonly 
employed in nurseries, because saleable 
plants are thus obtained one year earlier 
than by any other mode. To thus in¬ 
crease the vine, it is only necessary to 
select a branch of sufficient length to 
reach the ground when bent downwards, 
and making a slight incision near the 
base of the young wood, insert the part 
in the ground, and fasten it securely in 
its place. This should be done early in 
the spring, and by placing the layer in a 
pot and cutting the stem nearly back to 
the ground, a fine plant, fit for removal, 
will be formed by the next autumn. 
Cuttings of one, two, or three joints, 
taken off at the pruning season, and 
either placed in the ground or pots, also 
make good plants; but they should re¬ 
main undisturbed till the second season, 
that thoroughly-rooted specimens may 
be ensured. Grafting or budding also 
is resorted to occasionally in cases where 
an established vine proves of inferior 
quality, or a change is desired. It may 
besides be beneficially employed where 
the lower part of the stock has become 
bare of branches, and it is not desirable 
to cut it down; the ordinary principles 
of these operations apply in each case, 
and any of the usual methods may be 
employed, taking care to do it when the 
vitality of the plant is aroused, to form 
a close-fitting junction, and to exclude 
air till the union of the two parts is 
complete. Grafting should be done just 
before the plants begin to grow, and 
budding in the middle of their most 
active progress. 
The Planting of grape vines is, per¬ 
haps, the most important operation con¬ 
nected with their management; and as 
it need only occur once to provide a pro¬ 
lific source of fruit for even centuries, 
it certainly must be worth the trouble 
of doing properly. In consonance with 
the theory which points to the sun as the 
sustaining cause of life in vegetables, it 
will be found that all fruit trees, whose 
roots come within its influence, are 
remarkable alike for their moderated 
vigour, their fruitfulness, and the supe¬ 
rior flavour of the produce, in addition 
to which their precocity is increased 
equally with their productiveness ; be¬ 
sides, the vine is a native, or at least 
quite acclimatised in volcanic regions, 
always choosing, in a state of nature, 
the more elevated regions, whose charac¬ 
teristics are a rocky formation, thinly 
covered with light debris, and a full ex¬ 
posure to the sun. All these things 
plainly show us, that deep-sunken bor¬ 
ders of alluvial soil are foreign to the 
nature of the plants they are designed 
with so much trouble to sustain. Instead 
of digging out two or three feet of the 
natural earth to fill the space with a rich 
mixture of loam and manure, as is 
usually done, we would rather raise a 
mound of equal capacity above the ordi¬ 
nary level of the surrounding earth, 
facing it up with large stones, and mixing 
with the soil to be used a considerable 
proportion of draining material, such as 
Dricks, stones, &c., and should rest satis¬ 
fied with only a moderate addition of 
manure to the staple soil, if the latter 
is of the medium quality of fresh pasture 
loam. With about four cubic yards of 
earth of this description for each plant, 
elevated at least three feet, we should 
be under no apprehension of any kind as 
regards the roots of our vines, feeling 
certain that with an annual dressing of 
rotten dung to the surface, they would 
have sufficient to support them in full 
vigour for a much longer period than 
our attention would be likely to extend. 
March is perhaps the best time for re¬ 
movals, and in planting, the roots of the 
vine should be spread out on the surface, 
keeping the stem three or four inches 
from the wall, and laying the lower end 
of it on the ground to be covered with 
the roots to a depth of not more than 
F 
