It is recommended by some cultivators to employ such a whitewash for the wood of the vine, covering all the main stems with it; but all these methods result in the one thing—the application of sulphur as a remedy for mildew.
HOW TO OBTAIN GRAPE VINES.
Grafting is only practised on the vine for special reasons, and we have never had occasion to try it. We shall speak of a better mode of obtaining vines.
The best method of “getting a start” of grape vines is, by the employment of cuttings. These may be planted immediately after the spring pruning of established vines. But cuttings of native grapes are as well planted in the fall. The granulation, from which the roots spring, will form during the winter, and the cuttings, starting early in the spring, will make good growth the first year. Cuttings
are the best, because they can be procured easily, abundantly, and cheaply; they will bear carriage to any distance, are exceedingly tenacious of life, and they make thriftier plants. Cuttings may be set, either where they are to remain, in which case several should be set, to allow for failures, and only the strongest finally retained; or, they may be set in nursery rows, eight inches apart. Cuttings should be inserted about eight inches deep, and have two eyes or buds above the surface. The two buds are merely precautionary; that if one fails the other may sprout; one only, and that the strongest, should finally be permitted to grow.
An old and skillful cultivator of the vine says that cuttings are the best of all modes of securing a supply of vines. “For my part I am for scions without roots, after many experiments. All the advantage the one with roots has over the other, is that they are more sure to live; but they will not in general, make as thrifty plants.”—J. J. Dufour.
This only objection to cuttings—that a part of them fail to root—is of little practical importance, as they are easily obtained in any quantity.