At a meeting of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, held at Aiken, S. C, recently, Mr. H. W. Ravenel observed that there are varieties of the grape which have been propagated by cuttings, true to their kind for over a thousand years ! Let us illustrate this point by a familiar example. The Scuppernong grape was found growing wild over a century ago, in the eastern part of North Carolina, near Lake Scuppernong. It was so good a grape that it was brought into cultivation by taking cuttings or layers, - not the seeds. If the seeds of the Scuppernong are planted, they make generally a black grape of very inferior quality. This is the universal testimony, and I have myself tested it by raising numerous seedlings, all of which were black in color and of inferior quality. The original vine found in the woods, was therefore what we call a " chance seedling." Why it had these exceptionally good qualities we cannot tell. Among the millions of wild vines of this species of grape, growing all through the Southern States, this particular one "chanced" to be the best; - and it has been perpetuated.

All the cultivated Scuppernong vines now in existence are parts and portions of that original vine found in North Carolina ! And it is just in this way, that all plants capable of being propagated by division of their parts, are preserved to us.