The Cultivation of The Native Grape, and Manufacture of American Wines | Page 9

soil for their reception should be moderately
light and rich, and loosened up to the depth of at least eighteen inches.
Make a hole about eight inches deep, then throw in soil so as to raise a
small mound in the centre of the hole, about two inches high; on this
place the young vine, and carefully spread the roots in all directions;
then fill up with well pulverized soil, so that the upper eye or bud is
even with the surface of the ground; then press the soil down lightly;
place a good stake, of about four feet high, with the plant, and allow
but one shoot to grow, which should be neatly tied to the stake as it
grows. The vines may be planted in rows six feet apart, and three feet
apart in the rows, as many of them will prove worthless, and have to be
taken out. Allow all the laterals to grow on the young cane, as this will
make it short-jointed and stocky. Cultivate the ground well, stirring it
freely with plough, cultivator, hoe, and rake, which generally is the best
mulch that can be applied.
With the proper care and attention, our seedlings will generally grow
from three to four feet, and make stout, short-jointed wood this second
season. Should any of them look particularly promising, fruit may be
obtained a year sooner by taking the wood of it, and grafting strong old
vines with it. These grafts will generally bear fruit the next season. The
method to be followed will be given in another place.
At the end of the second season the vines should be pruned to about
three eyes or buds, and the soil hilled up around them so as to cover
them up completely. The next spring take off the covering, and when
the young shoots appear allow only two to grow. After they have
grown about eighteen inches, pinch off the top of the weakest, so as to
throw the growth into the strongest shoot, which keep neatly tied to the
stake, treating it as the summer before, allowing all the laterals to grow.
Cultivate the soil well. At the end of this season's growth the vines
should be strong enough to bear the following summer. If they have
made from eight to ten feet of stocky growth, the leading cane may be
pruned to ten or twelve eyes, and the smaller one to a spur of two eyes.

If they will fruit at all, they will show it next summer, when only those
promising well should be kept, and the barren and worthless ones
discarded.
II.--BY SINGLE EYES.
As this method is mostly followed only by those who propagate the
vine for sale in large quantities, and but to a limited extent by the
practical vineyardist, I will give only an outline of the most simple
manner, and on the cheapest plan. Those wishing further information
will do well to consult "The Grape Culturist," by Mr. A. S. FULLER,
in which excellent work they will find full instructions.
The principal advantages of this mode of propagation are the following:
1st. The facility with which new and rare kinds can be multiplied, as
every well ripened bud almost can be transformed into a plant. 2d. As
the plants are started under glass, by bottom heat, it lengthens the
season of their growth from one to two months. 3d. Every variety of
grape can be propagated by this method with the greatest ease, even
those which only grow with the greatest difficulty, or not at all, from
cuttings in open ground.
As to the merits or demerits of plants grown under glass from single
eyes, to those grown from cuttings or layers in open ground, opinions
differ very much, and both have their advocates. For my part, I do not
see why a plant grown carefully from a single eye should not be as
good as one propagated by any other method; a poor plant is not worth
having, whether propagated by this or any other method, and,
unfortunately, we have too many of them.
THE PROPAGATING HOUSE.
I will only give a description of a lean-to of the cheapest kind, for
which any common hot-bed sash, six feet long, can be used.
Choose for a location the south side of a hill, as, by making the house
almost entirely underground, a great deal of building material can be
saved. Excavate the ground as for a cellar--say five feet deep on the

upper side, seven feet wide, and of any length to suit convenience, and
the number of plants you wish to grow. Inside of the excavation set
posts or scantlings, the upper row to be seven feet long above the
ground, and two feet below the ground; the lower row