54 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



hanging them up to dry. Before using, the raffia should be 

 washed quickly in a stream of water in order to remove the 

 bluestone which has crystallized on the outside and which might 

 corrode the graft. 



"Some grafters prefer waxed string for grafting. The 

 string should be strong enough to hold the graft, but thin 

 enough to be broken by hand. No. 18 knitting cotton is a 

 good size. It is waxed by soaking the balls in melted grafting 

 wax for several hours. The string will absorb the wax, and 

 may then be placed on one side until needed. A good wax 

 for this purpose is made by melting together one part of tal- 

 low, two parts of beeswax, and three parts of rosin." 



Wire grafting. 



"The merits claimed for this method are that it is more 

 rapid, requires less skill, and does away with the troublesome 

 tying and still more troublesome removal of the tying material. 

 Practiced grafters can obtain as large a percentage of No. 1 

 unions by this method as by any other, and unpracticed graft- 

 ers can do almost as well as practiced. Another advantage 

 of the method is that the scions have less tendency to make 

 roots than with the tongue graft. 



"It consists essentially of the use of a short piece of gal- 

 vanized iron wire inserted in the pith of stock and scion for 

 the purpose of holding them together, thus replacing both 

 tongues and raffia. It has been objected that the iron would 

 have a deleterious effect on the tissues of the graft, corroding 

 them, or causing them to decay. There seems, however, no 

 reason to expect any such result, and vines grafted in this way 

 have been bearing for years without showing any such effect. 



"The preparation and grading of stocks and scions are exactly 

 the same for this method as for the tongue graft. 



"Stock and scion are cut at an angle of 45 degrees. A piece 

 of galvanized iron wire two inches long is then pushed one inch 



