the
prevailing winds.

[Illustration: PLATE II.--Fitting the land for planting.]

CHAPTER III

PROPAGATION

The grape commends itself to commercial and amateur growers alike by
its ease of propagation. The vines of all species may be propagated
from seed, and all but one of the several cultivated species may be
grown readily from cuttings or layers. All yield to grafting of one
kind or another. Seeds are planted only to produce new varieties. At
one time stocks were grown from seed, but this practice has fallen
into disrepute because of the great variations in the seedlings.
Varieties on their own roots and stocks are for most part propagated
from cuttings. In the production of stocks, the viticulturist sets the
orchardist a good example, for there can be no question that all
tree-fruits suffer from being grown on seedling stocks. The grape is a
vigorous, self-assertive plant and once it is started, whether from
seeds, cuttings or layers, seldom fails to grow.

SEEDLINGS

Growing seedling grapes is the simplest of operations. The seeds are
taken from the grapes at harvest time, after which they must pass
through a resting period of a few months. At once or in a month or
two, the seeds should be stratified in moist sand and stored in a cold
place until spring, when they may be sown in flats or in the open
ground; or seed may be sown in a well-prepared piece of garden land in
the autumn. When planted in the open, autumn or spring, the seeds are
put in at the depth of an inch, an inch or two apart and in rows
convenient for cultivation. Subsequent care consists of cultivation
if the seed are sown in garden rows, and in pricking out when true
leaves appear if planted in flats. In ground that crusts, an expedient
is to mix grape seed with apple seed; the apple seedlings, being more
vigorous, break the crust and act as nurse plants to the more tender
grapes. Sometimes it is helpful to the young plants to mulch the
ground lightly with lawn clippings or moss. Grape seedlings grow
rapidly, often making from two to three feet of wood in a season.

The young plants are thinned or set to stand four or five inches apart
in the nursery row. At the end of the first season, all plants are cut
back severely and almost entirely covered with earth by plowing up to
the row on both sides. This earth, of course, is leveled the following
spring. If the seasons are propitious and all goes well, the seedlings
are ready for t