New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 863 



feed close to the surface of the ground. It grows best in deep, rich 

 soils which must not be either too wet or too drj. Like St. 

 George, it is vigorous, imparts its vigor to vines worked upon it, 

 and is also specially hardy. It is well adapted for grafting pur- 

 poses, as it unites readily with our cultivated varieties. Its prin- 

 cipal defect is some fastidiousness as to soils. The Clevener stock 

 was selected since it grows on a wide range of soils. It has 

 already been used to some extent as a root-stock in this State. 

 The Riparia Gloire and St. George stocks came from California 

 and were in very poor shape on arrival. They were set in May, 

 1902, and by the fall of that year, one-fifth of the St. George plants 

 and five-sixths of the Riparia Gloire vines had died, but the 

 vacancies were filled with new stocks of the same varieties. These 

 replanted vines were taken from nursery rows where they had been 

 set after bench-grafting the cions on closelv-trimmed root stocks. 

 The Clevener stocks were not set until the spring of 1903. The 

 field grafting upon all these stocks was begun in May, 1903, which 

 was probably not the best time ; as subsequent experience has 

 proven that the union is best if the grafting is done when the 

 stock is not in full sap. 



As varieties to be grafted upon these 



stocks, about twenty kinds of exceptionally 



Varieties good quality were selected, practically all of 



used. which had already been grown more or 



less in the Chautauqua Grape Belt. These 

 varieties, with a brief indication of the reason for their choice, 

 are as follows: Agawam, Barry, Brilliant, Lindley, Mills, and 

 iSTiagara were selected as varieties which, though admirable in 

 most other respects, are hardly productive enough to be commer- 

 cially profitable; and in France and in California grafting on 

 other roots has often increased producti\dty. In other instances, 

 grafting has enabled certain varieties to be grown on soils seem- 

 ingly not adapted to them and since Campbell Early, Delaware, 

 Herbert, lona, Lindley, and Worden succeed only when soil con- 

 ditions are right, it was hoped to find in some of the new root 



