Unless the buyer knows what he wants, selecting vines is gambling pure and simple. Fortunately, there are several marks of good vines very helpful to those who know them. One should first make sure that the roots and tops are alive to the remotest parts. The vines should have a good clean, healthy look with trunk diameter large enough to indicate vigorous growth, and an ample spread of roots. Large size is not as desirable as firm, well-matured wood and an abundance of roots. Vines with internodes of medium length for the variety are better than those with great length or very short internodes. Such precautions as are possible should be taken to insure varieties true to name, although here the reputation of the nurseryman must be depended on except for the few varieties which may be known at sight in the nursery. First-grade one-year-old vines are usually better than two-year-olds. Stunted vines are not worth planting and two-year-old vines are often stunted one-year-olds. A few weak-growing varieties gain in vigor if allowed to remain in the nursery two years--three years, never. _Handling and preparing the vines._ The better vines are packed, transported and cared for in the field, the quicker will the roots take hold and the vines make the vigorous start on which so much depends. The nurseryman should be requested not to prune much before packing and to pack the vines well for shipping. The vines should be heeled-in as soon as they reach their destination. If the vines are dry on arrival, they should be drenched well before heeling-in. It sometimes happens that the vines are shriveled and shrunken from excessive drying, in which case the plants often may be brought back to plumpness by burying them root and branch in damp earth, to remain a week or possibly two. To heel-in, a trench should be double furrowed in light, moist soil, the vines spread out in the trench two or three deep, and then earth shoveled over the roots and half the tops, sifting it in the roots, after which the soil is firmed. The vines may thus be kept in good condition for several weeks if need arises.