the soil, in the bud-shoot, exhausts the vitality of the cutting, and should, therefore be repressed, and hence it is so much insisted by me, and so often, that the air of the house must be colder than the soil at this stage of germination, as it represses the leaves and bud-shoots, and the superior heat of the damp soil invites the formation of "callus." The callus now for one, and often three or more weeks expands and becomes pointed in the places already spoken of, and at last from the points of the callus there starts roots, usually two or three in number,, round, white and smooth, and when these, which are quite large, are two or three inches long, rootlets emerge, and when they have emerged, the main root-shoots turn brown, and the pot speedily becomes full of roots and what are commonly termed spongioles. Then the budshoot again begins to grow and put forth more leaves, showing that the roots are feeding the young plant, and the little vine has become established. These facts are seen in fig. 32, where (a) shows the callus emerged roots, which, at the proper time, grow very rapidly, and (b, c, d,) the little rootlets (see fig. 32) and spongioles.

There are many questions we cannot discuss, as why the callus shootroots usually go downwards; and why the hardened roots are more horizontal; why the roots of the callus are often larger than the hardened roots, and other mere philosophical enquiries. But for the lessons it teaches we will name the places where the callus is most apt to form. The places where in the fall of the year, in the greatest number of cuttings, the most of the roots are found is at the lower end of the cutting (d) (see figs. 27 and 32), and it is the place usually of the largest callus, and where the callus roots usually emerge. Next in frequency is (b) or the point nearest the leaf print, where the soil is of that dampness and warmth to favor their growth. The next in frequency is the opposite point to the leaf mark, and somewhat lower down the cutting. Points between these are often the places for the appearance of small roots, but are rarely the ones from which the main large roots come. Practically the consideration of these facts leads to the conclusion, founded on observation, that the heat in the soil over that of the air, leads to the active circulation of the sap. We will not discuss the further relations of the bud, for that usually grows at any rate if there are roots formed; but the result of the circulation of the sap in the cutting downwards, is the sending out at this portion of the cutting a gum or mucilage-which at the proper time can be seen-and its hardening into callus, under the bark or at the bruised or cut portions; and which elevates or bursts the bark, and thus prepares the way for the roots; and hence both before the cuttings are placed in the tank, and while being germinated on the tank, the operator must guard and preserve the mucilage in the cutting or it is lost. Hence too our minute description of the process of propagation, and the tank heat and all else of the art, in favor of this essential callus. And hence we further note that frost in any and every degree tends to destroy the mucilaginous property of the cuttings; that if it exceeds a certain limit, the majority of the cuttings die Could the buds be cut at the early appearance of frost in the fall, and kept as cold as possible, yet with no frost, the more successful would be their propagation.

As the Post Office Department, by a kind mail service, at one cent each ounce, offers a very convenient way for the wide spread diffusion of cuttings of every kind of grapes, it should be kept in mind that they must be sent by mail so as to lose none of this callus power of the cutting. As ordinarily sent by mail, they arrive very dry, and because they come to hand so dry, the receiver of them imagines if he puts them in water twentyfour hours or longer, he revives them. But no process can be devised more hurtful, for by that means, he soaks out the mucilage, already damaged by frost, and heat, and dryness, and extinguishes the last hope of life in the cuttings. Especially does he do this if the water is tepid or warm. The true method of preparing cuttings to send by mail, is to cut them eight to twelve inches long, according to the long or short jointed wood' Then varnish the end with furniture or coach varnish, or rub the end with a little paste, or touch the end with a solution of gum arabic in water. Any of these substances will exclude the air, and keep the sap of the cutting in. Then tie them in bundles, and as without their names they are worthless, label them, though the law says nothing as to the label, as I am aware of; and wrap them in two or three thicknesses of wrapping paper, leaving the top ends of the cuttings so as to be seen by the postmaster. If in this manner they do not come safely through the mail, there is no way to send them, except in tin cases. We are most in favor of the gum arabic paste, and have received them perfectly sound and in admirable order by this method. When wet moss, and moss and oiled silk, or other like appliances have been used, they often come to hand dry; and the moss having cruelly extracted the last of the mucilage, as it slowly dried on the way; the cuttings, though apparently green, were dead beyond recovery. We repeat, use nothing but either varnish or gum arabic for the mail, and in the winter months they will go over the Union in perfect safety, if sound, fresh cuttings when sent. As an instance, we had a fine bundle, by mail, in oiled silk and moss, sent us over 400 miles, postage very heavy, for the package weighed much; arrived dry, light, and not a bud lived, though the utmost care was used. The same kinds, cut, the latter part of February, off of the vines, and immediately coated with gum arabic, arrived in good order, with a slight postage, and two-thirds of the buds lived and grew well.

Before leaving buds, let a remark be made on the bud itself. Philosophic and microscopic analyses of the bud aside, practically a bud is composed of at least four buds in one. Thus fig. 33 (see fig. 33) shows (a) the main bud, (b) the left hand lateral, (c) the front lateral, and (d) the right hand lateral bud, all enveloped in the common sheath of the main bud. The practical use of this is, that when received by mail the main bud may be dead, but if the cuttings are of a rare and valuable kind, the laterals, or one of them, may grow. Or a box or pot of plants may "damp off" badly, and seem lost, yet the laterals often put out, and the seemingly lost plants are recovered. At times it has seemed as though the cutting forgot the bud, when somewhat grown, in its care for callus and roots, and let it die, while the roots grew well; and then recalling its negligence of the bud, put forth a lateral in its stead. We, too, have known a cutting without an eye or bud on it, put out callus and very respectable roots; and this [AG. TRANS.]

46

fact has suggested that difficult kinds, that have little or no callus material in them, be grafted on foreign wood that usually has much of it; for example, Delaware on Black Hamburg wood, or Diana on Chaselas, or even Isabella.

THE SOIL FOR THE POTS OR BOXES.

It is not a matter of entire indifference in what kind of material the buds are set, yet the effect of the soil is much less than is often imagined. The bud, if not killed by pre-existing causes, will start to grow in the most barren substances. So too in their early stage of growth the roots will strike in almost any soil, the best and the poorest soils being nearly alike. Their after growth and prosperity however, is much dependent on the earth or soil in which they are placed. Some take pure white sand, destitute of every element except its looseness, and dampness without excess of moisture, and "strike" the roots in that, that is, let the callus form and the roots shoot out from the callus, and grow until they are about to put forth their spongiole fibres to absorb nutriment; when they with what seems a rudeness, by a little pointed stick, throw the cutting and its incipient roots out of the sand,-a seemingly fatal process-into the open air; and then pot them in rich earth, and this too with wonderful impunity to the young vine, using the precaution to water freely, six hours after potting, and shading them from the sun for a few days. But the better way is, to set the cutting in the earth or soil in which it is to remain, not disturbing the ball of earth in repotting. As to the composition of the potting earth, ten thousand and one are the little variations of soil recommended, but they resolve themselves into any loose porous easily penetrable materials, not too rich, yet rich enough for the ready growth of the young vines; any sweet, light, friable rich soil. We know of no better mixture than one third clean loose, rather coarse sand, one third good garden loam or mould, light and loose, and one third well rotted manure, especially horse stable manure. If they will not grow in this, they will not in anything; so with no further words on this much talked of subject, we dismiss the varied mixtures supposed to aid in the germination of cuttings. It is one of the arts of nurserymen to use swamp muck, well cured by a winter's frost, to give very large roots to one year old plants.

HEAT OF THE TANK.

This can, with impunity and advantage, be much higher than is usually given in books on the subject, if many books are to be found on these prac tical details, and they are scarce enough. It has been said that 60° F. is high enough to commence with; why, we don't know. We found by experiment that 80° Fahrenheit was no disadvantage. Then 90° F. did no harm, and we found water at 100° F., was quite agreeable to the cuttings; and 150° F. did not kill them; and actually, after a sad time over imported trans-Atlantic ideas of heat, the water boiled in the tank for hours, with no displeasure manifested by the growing cuttings. But mind you, in the tank, as described in figure 26. As a sort of rule, we name for a wood tank thus made that the water stand at 80° to 90° F. at night, rising to 120° F. by nine o'clock, A. M., and even 140° or 150° at noon, falling to 120° by five

o'clock, P. M., and to 80° or 90° by midnight. By this we do not mean that the operator should stand with thermometer in hand, and enforce the rule as with an iron rod, but that he approximate it, as nearly as he conveniently can, without any attention to minor variations. The rule of the air of the house should be to be always lower than that of the soil in which the cuttings are placed. And as an approximate formula, 40° to 50° F. at sunrise, 80° F. at 9 A. M., 100° F. at noon, 80° F. at five P. M., and 40° to 50° F. at night.

The reason of these rules is much more important to successful propagation than at first sight would seem requisite, for the first impulse would be, get the best heat and keep it uniform night and day. But such is not nature. The fluctuations of temperature should imitate that of the sun, which is cool in the morning, hot at noon, and cooler at night. He who wishes to be convinced of the necessity of this fact can, if he pleases, keep his tank at either a high or low heat, a constant unvarying heat night and day. He will soon find how his plants flag, and look tired out, spiritless and exhausted. By a constant low heat they die for the want of stimulus. By a high heat, having no repose at night, they are jaded out, as are all night watchers. The tender propagator cares too well for his pet buds, to

abuse them thus.

We shall discuss no objections to what we have stated, especially to the high heat we recommend in the tank, for he who can propagate Delaware, Diana and other buds, difficult to germinate, by a tank, when not grafted, with equal success to those who, without a tank, and by grafting their buds, are able to boast how successful they are, needs no argument on the matter of which is the best, grafts and low heat or no grafts and high heat. And this we have seen on a hot tank too often to be disputed, or admit of an objection.

How damp shall they be? We reply, the success of the propagating. house depends on its heat primarily, and next after this on the dampness of the soil and air; hence the steam dampness of the tank is no detriment. Some tank operators leave a board or two of the cover of the tank off, thus exposing a few square feet of the water to the air, and by it the constant dampening of the atmosphere of the house, by the escaping steam, is maintained. The house, it is emphatically repeated, everywhere should be damp, warm, and yet not wet; the soil should be damp, well drained, and the equalising material under the pots and boxes also damp, but not wet, or overcharged with water. By frequent showering the young leaves and surfaces of the pots or boxes with too much water, the mucilage of the cutting is dissolved out, and it cannot root. By too little, the pot becomes sour, and shows disease in the soil. The leaves should be kept damp, yet not wet, lest the leaves "scald," or are drowned by the excess of water. It is this very point perhaps, more than all others, that makes a good propagator or a poor one. The whole of the watering and care of the cuttings is one on which no inflexible rules can be given. The best and only sure rule is, that as a good physician watches the symptoms and the countenance of the patient, so the propagator watches his plants, gives or withholds water, heat or air, as they seem benefited or injured thereby. It is

that sense of sympathy with his new-born plants that makes him a successful germinator, and the want of it cannot be corrected by any rules that can be made. Yet it is proper, as we have said, that he keep the pots or boxes damp always, so that the earth in them shall never appear dry on the top, and this in addition to the damp atmosphere. Those who understand the damp hot air so powerful in swelling the buds of a vinery, need not be told that this is the air for the buds, while a still greater heat is stimulating the roots of the cutting.

THE HARDENING OFF HOUSE or table.

When the buds have grown to the point of starting the rootlets and spongiole roots, so that nutriment is drawn from the earth in the pots or boxes, the sprout from the bud, which has been stationary all the while the roots and rootlets have been forming, again commences to grow and put forth other leaves. When this second growth is fairly established, and the young plant, if a stout one, is about six inches high, the propagating task is over, for the second growth of stout leaves shows the roots are large enough to bear the cessation of the “bottom heat. They should now be removed. If in two inch or "thumb pots," they should be repotted into three or four inch pots, without breaking the ball of earth, and the space round the ball of earth in the new pot filled with rich earth. If in boxes, they must be taken from the tank, and at once placed on the hardening off table. In figures 13, 14 and 15, there are represented hardening off tables, in the central portion of the house. The main objection is the difficulty in keeping the air of such houses damp enough, for the propagating tables, and hence separate hardening houses are better than tables in a propagating house; and as the time for the use of the hardening house is so late in the season, its separate heating is of little moment. Fig. 34 is a plain, unornamented, convenient arrangement, where (a) is the snug, compact propagating house, with low roof, a cap ventilator, and northern exposure, and (c) is the middle or work house, (see fig. 34) containing the heaters or water stoves, and other articles; (and being cooler than either of the side houses, it is better to do certain parts of the work of the houses in, as dividing the cuttings into single eyes, repotting the plants, &c.); and (b) is the hardening house, with ridge and base ventilators, having more room than the propagating house; proportionally larger than the propagating house, as are the pots used in repotting larger than those in which the buds were started. This hardening or inuring house should have a tank on one side only, and that at a low heat, so that on this low heated tank the young vines may, for a few days, have the heat gradually lessened, until only the heat of the air of the house heats the soil in the pot. The remainder of the house should be arranged without bottom heat, for the completion of the inuring of the plant to grow without the stimulus of heat in the soil. In this house the plant can remain growing till fall, if for sale; and by a system of repotting can be made very large and stout plants. If the hardening or inuring of the roots and plants to no heat, is to be done on a central table in the propagating house, as in the ground plot, (see fig. 14) the principle is the same as in the secondary house just described; the plants are placed on it, and grown there till wanted in the vineyard in the middle or