A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

G R A 261
are contemplated, is not to leave them
longer than four or five feet, and to remove
all the buds but the uppermost.
These rootless cuttings are coiled into
long narrow pots, being so placed that
the bud of the apes of the shoot, although
the highest part, is still two
inches beneath the surface of the soil;
at the same time sufficient room is left
beneath the coil for the roots to extend
themselves. These cuttings being put
in between the middle of January and
the end of March, are plunged at once
into a hot-bed between 90^ and lOOo,
where they remain until they require
more pot-room. They are then shifted,
and placed in a suitable situation until
again excited in November or December.
When the cutting begins to grow, the
shoot is trained upright, until it is seven
or eight or ten joints long, when the top
is pinched off. After this stopping the
laterals are displaced as they appear;
and if the vines have done well, two or
three of the buds will also be excited
at the same time, in which case the
shoots are cut down to the lowest excited
eye. The single shoot is then
trained upright and divested of all laterals
and tendrils. None of the plants
are allowed to grow longer than from
four to six feet, at which length the tops
are pinched off, the uppermost lateral,
which is also stopped at the first joint,
being left to carry off the remaining
sap.
" At this season the plants are removed
to a warm and sheltered situation
in the open air ; and when the
leaves fall they are headed down to
one, two, or three joints, according to
their strength, and are placed against a
northern aspect. When cold weather
sets in they are taken back to a sheltered
spot, and plunged in the ground
to protect the roots, the pots being
mulched over, and the rods covered to
protect them from frost.
" When these yearling potted vines
are brought early into action, it is recommended
to bow a piece of wire
above the pot with both its ends running
down the inside, of sufficient height
to allow the whole length of the stem to
be attached to it, as represented in the
accompanying figure.
—
trellis. To prevent evaporation the stem
is wrapped loosely in moss, which is
kept constantly moist until the grapes
are set, when it is removed. The plants,
up to this period, are encouraged by
bottom-heat and shifting; and the quantity
of fruit is regulated by the size of
the pot and the quality of the vine."
Card. Chron.
Seed.—To raise new varieties seed
from the largest, earliest, and best ripened
berries must be separated fron»
their pulp, and kept until the February
following; then to be sown in "pots
filled with light fresh mould, and plunged
in a moderately warm hot-bed. Tliey
will come up in four or six weeks; and
when the plants are about six inches
high, they should be transplanted singly
into forty-eights, and afterwards into
pots of larger size.
"Water gently as circumstances require;
allow abundance of light and
air, and carefully avoid injuring any of
the leaves. Cut down the plants everv
autumn to good buds, and sulfer only
one of these to extend itself in the following
spring. Shift into larger pots,
as occasion requires, till they have
produced fruit. This, under good management,
will take place in the fourth
or fifth year, when the approved sorts
should be selected, and the rest destroyed,
or used as stocks on which to
graft or inarch good sorts."
—
Enc. of
Gard.
" The buds from the stem being thus
bent, break more regularly ; and when
If a hybrid grape be required, the
stamens of the female parent must be
this is effected the vine is united, and cut away with very sharp-pointed scis-
secured to an upright stake or sloping sors before their anthers have burst.