TWENTY FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING. 171 



sawed out it leaves a perfect space for the scion. Saw it down as far as 

 you want to make the graft, and then make the graft to fit the sawed 

 place, and it makes a perfect fit. 



Mr. Morrill: You wax it, do you, and cover with cloth? 



Mr. Chidester: I do not think it is necessary to wax. If you graft in 

 the fall of the year, it is necessary to put an earthen jar over, and cover 

 with straw, to keep from freezing. The frosts are likely to draw the 

 scion out. 



Mr. Sigler: I have experimented with wax and cloths. Take cotton 

 cloth, strip it, and wrap it around the stub of the vine where you graft. 

 I never got one to grow by putting wax, but the cloths keep it moist, and 

 I think the vine is more likely to grow because this wrapping furnish^^s 

 moisture for the scion. 



Mr. Morrill : These are fine points which it is absolutely essential to 

 bring out, to save people from mistakes. 



Mr. Chidester: I don't know where you can find those saws; I bought 

 mine of an old man living at Tecumseh. 



Mr. Bradish: I am not very familiar with grafting grapes. I don't 

 raise grapes under glass, and I don't believe grafting pays for out-door 

 culture, when vines cost only from five to ten cents apiece. 



Mr. Morrill: You can get Concords for two cents. 



Mr. Bradish : If you had a vineyard that you were not satisfied with, 

 would you tear it out and set new, or would you graft it? I would set 

 new ones. 



Mr. Morrill: On different land, perhaps? 



Mr. Bradish: O, perhaps not, always. If I had a location that I 

 thought was just right, or very nearly right, and it had been kept up in 

 good shape, I would tear up the old roots and set new vines. I have done 

 that frequently, and sometimes I have had to cut away at the old ones 

 two or three years, to get them killed out. 



Mr. Eeid: Then, Mr. Bradish, you have never tested the matter of 

 grafting, to learn the comparative value? 



Mr. Bradish: O yes, you can get grapes perhaps a year or two sooner, 

 by grafting, and large crops sooner, but I prefer resetting because land 

 and labor are so cheap. It would be more labor to graft the grapes than 

 to pull them out and reset. 



Mr. Chidester: How many vines, taking old vines, say one and one 

 half inches in diameter, can a man who understands it graft in a fair 

 day's work, and what proportion ought he to make live? 



Mr. Bradish: I should think a person might graft forty or fifty per 

 day. 



Mr. Chidester : Then it would be worth about three cents apiece to do 

 the grafting ? 



Mr. Bradish: Yes. 



Mr. Chidester: What proportion would you, of your own work, expect 

 to make live? 



Mr. Bradish : I think a person ought to make two thirds of them grow. 



Mr. Chidester: That would make a rather ragged vineyard. 



Mr. Bradish: Of course, I never had enough experience to tell exactly 

 how many would grow. It is generally conceded that it is a pretty nice 

 job to graft a grape successfully. 



