to our garden plot.  A neighbor worthy of the name will be glad to give us a few cuttings from his vine at the time of its annual pruning; and with, very little trouble we also may soon possess the desired variety.  When the vine is trimmed, either make yourself or have your friend make a few cuttings of sound wood from that season’s growth.  About eight inches is a good length for these vine-slips, and they should contain at least two buds.  Let each slip be cut off smoothly just under the lowest bud, and extend an inch or two above the uppermost bud.  If these cuttings are obtained in November or December, they may be put into a little box with some of the moist soil of the garden, and buried in the ground below the usual frost-line—­say a foot or eighteen inches in our latitude.  The simple object is to keep them in a cool, even temperature, but not a frosty one.  Early in April dig up the box, open a trench in a moist but not wet part of the garden, and insert the cuttings perpendicularly in the soil, so that the upper bud is covered barely one inch.  In filling up the trench, press the soil carefully yet firmly about the cuttings, and spread over the surface just about them a little fine manure.  The cuttings should be a foot apart from each other in the row.  Do not let the ground become dry about them at any time during the summer.  By fall these cuttings will probably have thrown out an abundance of roots, and have made from two to three feet of vine.  In this case they can be taken up and set out where they are to fruit.  Possibly but one or two of them have started vigorously.  The backward ones had better be left to grow another year in the cutting bed.  Probably we shall not wish to cultivate more than one or two vines of the variety; but it is just as easy to start several cuttings as one, and by this course we guard against failure, and are able to select the most vigorous plant for our garden.  By taking good care of the others we soon derive one of the best pleasures which our acre can afford—­that of giving to a friend something which will enhance the productiveness of his acre, and add to his enjoyment for years to come.

Not only on our neighbor’s grounds, but also on our own we shall discover that some varieties are unusually vigorous, productive, and well-adapted to our locality; and we may very naturally wish to have more vines of the same sort, especially if the fruit is to our taste.  We can either increase this kind by cuttings, as has been described, or we can layer part of the vine that has won our approval by well-doing.  I shall take the latter course with several delicious varieties in my vineyard.  Some kinds of grapes do not root readily as cuttings, but there is little chance of failure in layering.  This process is simply the laying down of a branch of a vine in early spring, and covering it lightly with soil, so that some buds will be beneath the surface, and others just at or a little above it.  Those