New Yoek Agricultural Experiment Station. 8(31 



advent of the phylloxera really widened the possibilities of the 

 European grape. In California, where the European grape ( Vitis 

 vinifera) is growm, as well as in France, grape-grafting has been 

 studied and practiced with zeal and has undoubtedly aided greatly 

 in the development of the wine, raisin and dessert-grape branches 

 of that State's horticulture. 



While the phylloxera is not a dreaded 



Grafting useful pest in x\nierica east of the Rockies, and 

 abroad, why root-grafting is not here essential to the exis- 

 not in tence of vineyards, has not this process pos- 



New York? sibilities in eastern grape-growing? Some 



of our very best eastern grapes are commer- 

 cially of little value because of defects which grafting has par- 

 tially or wholly removed in case of other varieties in France and 

 (California ; why is there not promise that similar results will fol- 

 low if the combinations of root and cion are studied as carefully 

 for our varieties and our conditions ? 



Varieties developed from our native species are exceedingly 

 diverse as to soil requirements. Those derived from Vitis rupes- 

 i ris, the sand grape, or rock grape, thrive well on hard, dry soils ; 

 those from Vitis wslivalis, the summer grape, bunch gTape, or 

 l)lue grape, do well on light, thin soils. Descendants of the fox 

 grape, Vitis labrusca, prefer loose, hard, sandy or gravelly soils, 

 while those varieties whose parent species delight in the warm, 

 moist, river banks (Vitis riparia) do best in the vineyard on 

 rather heavier soils than those preferred by other grapes. In re- 

 sponse to heat or cold, shade or sunshine, moisture or drought, in 

 susceptibility to insect and fungus diseases, in productivity, in 

 longevity and in size of vine, these different species show great 

 \ariations; and in the vineyard, propagation, cultivation and 

 spraying must be modified to suit the varied types. It seems 

 entirely logical to suppose that the chances of betterment through 

 grafting upon one of these diverse types of root stocks some of our 

 cultivated varieties (which are derived from eight or nine dis- 

 tinct species) are as great, if not greater, than in grafting the 

 Vinifera varieties upon these stocks in France. 



