ich do not propagate and
transplant readily, such as the Norton's Virginia, Delaware, and other
hard-wood varieties. Better pay double the price you would have to give
for inferior plants; the best are the cheapest in the end, as they will
make the healthiest vines, and bear sooner.

But I would also caution my readers against those who will sell you
"extra large layers, for _immediate_ bearing," and whose "plants are
better than those whom anybody else may grow," as their advertisements
will term it. It is time that this humbug should cease; time that the
public in general should know, that they cannot, in nature and reason,
expect any fruit from a plant transplanted the same season; and that
those who pretend it can be done, without vital injury to the plant,
are only seeking to fill their pockets at the cost of their customers.
They know well enough themselves that it cannot be done without killing
or fatally injuring the plant, yet they will impose upon the credulity
of their confiding customers; make them pay from $3 to $5 a piece for a
plant, which these good souls will buy, with a vision of a fine crop of
grapes before their eyes, plant them, with long tops, on which they may
obtain a few sickly bunches of fruit the first season; but if they do
the vines will make a feeble growth, not ripen their fruit, and perhaps
be winter-killed the next season. It is like laying the burden of a
full grown man on the shoulders of a child; what was perhaps no burden
at all to the one, will kill the other. Then, again, these "plants,
superior to those of every one else." It is the duty of every
propagator and nursery-man to raise good plants; he can do it if he
tries; it is for his interest as much as for the interest of his
customers to raise plants of the best quality; and we have no reason to
suppose that we are infinitely superior to our neighbors. While the
first is a downright swindle, the latter is the height of arrogance. If
we had a good deal less of bombast and self laudation, and more of
honesty and fair dealing in the profession, the public would have more
confidence in professional men, and would be more likely to practice
what we preach. Therefore, if you look around for plants, do not go to
those who advertise, "layers for immediate bearing," or "plants of
superior quality to all others grown;" but go to men who have honesty
and modesty enough to send you a sample of their best plants, if
required, and who are not