The grape is grown in immense quantities from cuttings, which are either planted in a nursery, or set at once in the vineyard. In the former they are planted closely in rows, that are about twenty inches apart. Sometimes the ground is trenched, and the cuttings set at the same operation. When the first trench is opened in a rich mellow loam, which may be sod or clover lea, the edge of the dug soil is dressed to the line with the spade, then the cuttings are placed so as to have one eye at or above the surface, and soil is thrown in and tramped closely to the base of the cuttings. Then the next trench is made with the spade, digging the ground as you proceed.
Grape cuttings are generally made eighteen or twenty inches long; and those which have a heel of old wood are preferred, and command a higher price. The earlier these are taken from the vines, after the fall of the leaves, the better success will attend the plantation; provided they are not too long exposed to the air. Fall planting is very desirable, but if not then planted, the cuttings should be put into the ground and covered as soon as convenient, and they will be better prepared for spring planting. A deep trench is opened, into which the bundles are set in a vertical position, and loose earth filled in about them, and slightly covered over them; they will then be ready for planting by the spring. The length of the cuttings has latterly been much reduced, with advantage; some of the most successful planters make them from six to eight inches long: these are much more easily dug than the longer slips, and are better provided with roots.
Trimming should be practiced in the nursery with a definite object in view, and not at random; much less with any expectation of increasing the hight of the trees by trimming them up. The object in pruning nursery trees should be to develop them in every part, to produce a stout stocky sturdy little tree, one that may be turned out upon the bleak prairie, and be able to withstand the blasts. To produce this result, the leaves should never be stripped from the shoots to make them extend their growth, for the sake of making more leaves; the nurseryman should know the value of leaves, as constituting the great evaporating surface that plays a most important part in causing the ascent of the crude sap, and also in its elaboration after it has been taken up into the organization of the plant. Leaves should be carefully preserved, and in the trimming, which is necessary, this should be borne in mind. To make vigorous, stocky trees, the side branches should be encouraged rather than pruned off. The tops may sometimes need to be pinched, to force out the laterals, and to encourage their growth; if two shoots start together as rivals, one of them should be topped or cut back, or twisted and broken, but not cut off at its origin, unless there be plenty of lateral branches or twigs to furnish the tree. When these become too long, they may be spurred-in, either in the fall and winter when cutting grafts, or in the summer, during the growing season. Whenever it becomes necessary to trim off any of these laterals, it is best to do it at mid-summer, as the healing of the wounds made at this period is very rapid. Heading off the nursery trees is done to force them to branch out uniformly the second year, to form their heads at the right place; this is to be done toward spring, and is applicable especially to those varieties that are prone to make a single shoot the first year without branching, and which have not been pinched-in or headed during the previous summer to force out side branches. Cherries, plums, and pears, and some apples, are very apt to make this kind of growth. It should have been premised that all nursery trees ought to be grown to one main stem, or leader, from which all the branches arise, and to which they should all be made to contribute their quota of woody fibre. It has been asserted that the wood of a tree, instead of being a cone, as its stem appears to be and is, it should be a column of nearly equal size from the bottom to the top; that is, the mass of all the branches taken together, should equal the diameter of the trunk at any point below. A well-grown stocky nursery tree, with its abundance of lateral branches approximates this idea; but the main stem of such an one is very perceptibly a cone, rapidly diminishing in diameter from the collar upwards.
Age of Trees for Planting.—This depends so much upon the views of planters, that the nurseryman cannot always control the period at which he shall clear a block of trees. Peaches should always be removed at one year from the bud. Plums and dwarf pears will be ready to go off at two years from the bud or graft; so with apples and cherries. But many persons, purchasers and sellers, prefer larger trees, and they recommend that the trees should remain one, two, or even three years longer in the nursery. Others, a new school of planters, prefer to set out the maiden tree, in most of the species above named, except some very feebly growing varieties, that will scarcely have attained sufficient size to risk in the orchard. The nurseryman should beware of keeping his trees too long on his hands; they may become unprofitable stock, and are sure to require much more labor in the digging and handling. The purchaser is his own master, and his tastes and wishes must be consulted; if he wants large trees, by all means, let him be indulged; he will have to pay in proportion, he will have more wood for his money, more weight to carry, or more transportation to pay for, more labor in planting, and vastly increased risk of the life of his trees; but, let him be indulged with his five year old trees, while his neighbor, for a smaller sum invested, with less freight, less wood, less labor, and infinitely less risk, will plant his maiden trees, and five years hence will market more fruit.
The risk of transplanting large or old trees from the nursery, may be greatly diminished, and their value will be vastly enhanced, by judicious root pruning in the nursery-row. This may be done by digging, on either side, on alternate years, and cutting off the straggling roots, and particularly those that run deeply; this will be followed by the production of a multitude of fibrous roots that put the tree into a good condition for transplanting. In the great nurseries of the West, there is a peculiar plow, which is used for root pruning the nursery rows.
The Home Nursery has been recommended by Mr. Field in his Pear Culture as a means of enabling the orchardist to amuse himself, and to grow his trees in such style as he may prefer. He advises to select trees "of two or three years' growth, and prepare a piece of ground for the home nursery. For this a rich, deep, dry soil should be spaded and thoroughly pulverized to the depth of two feet, (trenched). In it plant the trees in rows four feet distant, and three feet apart in the rows. Two hundred trees would thus occupy a space fifty feet square. The roots having been carefully examined, and, as before mentioned, the laterals pruned to six or eight inches, are spread out horizontally, and gently covered with earth. It will be seen that the labor of pinching, pruning, and cultivating, will be much less on so small a spot, than when the cultivator is obliged to travel over three or four acres upon which they are ultimately to be planted.
"If at the end of two years it is still desirable to allow them to remain, a sharp spade should be thrust down around them, at a distance of fifteen or eighteen inches, in order to cut the long straggling roots, and thus induce the formation of fibres nearer home. This will fit them for transplanting at an advanced stage of growth. In this case, if at the end of two or three years, they are removed at the proper season, and with care, they will suffer scarcely any check. By pursuing this plan, they receive better care, grow faster, and are not liable to damage; and as only the good trees will, in this case, be set in the fruit grounds, none of those unseemly breaks in the rows, caused by the injury or death of a tree, need occur. Where, however, older trees, at least once transplanted, cannot be obtained, and it is desirable to set out the orchard at once, stout two-year old trees are decidedly preferable. Such trees have not stood sufficiently long to send their roots beyond a limit whence they can be removed; and with careful digging, removal and planting, the purchaser need not fear a loss of more than two per cent."
The Nursery Orchard, as practiced by A.R. Whitney, of Lee Co., Ill., now one of the largest orchardists of the country, is well worthy of imitation by all those nurserymen, who desire also to become fruit-growers. In laying off the blocks of nursery stock, the varieties that are wanted for the orchard, should be planted in such a manner, that they shall be in every fourth row, so that the orchard trees will stand in rows sixteen to twenty feet apart, according as the nursery-rows are four or five feet wide. In cultivating and trimming these rows in the nursery, a plant is selected, every twelve or sixteen feet, which is to remain as the orchard