172 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Chidester: Yes, but you gain at least two years on each viue that 

 you get to grow. 



Mr. Bradish: You can not get very much of a erojj until three years 

 after the vine is set out, and I have got a good crop the second year. If 

 I were engaged, as I understand Mr. Chidester is, in propagating new 

 varieties, I think it would be well to graft. Seedlings are sometimes 

 long in coming into bearing. 



Mr. Bird: There is one point that might be of great value, if it would 

 work, the same as with large fruits. That is, the possibility of grafting 

 a fine, productive grape, all other things being equal, that grows on a 

 weak root, upon a strong-growing stock, like Concord or Niagara. 

 I do not know whether this could be made to produce the desired effect, 

 whether a slow-growing variety can be grafted upon a rapid-growing 

 stock and partake of the effects of the strong stock. 



Mr. Chidester: I think that thing can be done. I grafted a Wyoming 

 on a Concord, and it made a wonderful growth the first year. It seems 

 to grow just as ranklj^ as the Concord. 



The President: Is not that the best use you can put grafting to, grow- 

 ing weak varieties on strong vines? Mr. Willard, what do you think? 

 Is it desirable to change a vine, except for such purposes as last men- 

 tioned? 



Mr. Willard: I have a friend who is a large fruitgrower, and he prac- 

 tices that thing a great deal, and he says that he has had great success 

 in it. Vergennes has been a great success with him, as a producer, 

 and as a market grape. He said he had a large variety of grapes that he 

 would graft over to Vergennes. I think one of the causes of failure in 

 grape grafting is the manner in which scions are kept, and I believe that 

 is true of any grafting. The buds should be kept in perfect condition. 

 For that reason, in all of our orchard grafting, we are now cutting our 

 scions (which I always do at this season of the year) and putting them 

 one side and allowing them to freeze up solid, and in that condition we 

 shall put them into the ice-house and keep them frozen until we want to 

 use them, so that they are perfectly dormant. In the stocks upon which 

 they are grafted the sap will have begun to flow, and they are in good 

 condition to heal at once, and it seems to me that that is one of the 

 important things in connection with the grafting of the grape. You can 

 easily graft a weak variety upon a strong one, but you can not graft a 

 strong variety upon a weak one. If you attempt to graft a sweet cherry 

 into a sour one, you will make .a failure, because it is the stronger. 



Mr. Baldwin: Is it material to trim grapes in the early fall? I am 

 just starting in. Two years ago last spring, I set about 300 grapevines. 

 I was a novice, I knew nothing, and I asked uothing. I got hold of an 

 old book of twenty years ago, and I find that the advice of that old book 

 is about as good as I can get now. I dug holes two feet square and 

 eighteen to twenty inches deep; I put a goodly quantity of bone into 

 each one of these holes. I then put in a compost of clear cattle manure 

 from the stables, on the bones, then covered that well, and I raised my 

 ground in oval shape about the roots. I never saw such a growth as 

 those grapes made. I set them two years ago last spring, and a year ago 

 last spring, the first year after setting, we had a fine crop. Now, I want 

 to find whether it is material to trim in earlv fall. I would state that. 



