1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



i8i 



The only way surely to keep these varieties is by 

 cuttings, grafts or layers, as we have to do with 

 varieties of fruits. 



But here is the trouble. It is well known that if 

 a large propagator gets some disease among his 

 stock it is disseminated far and wide, till the whole 

 race becomes contaminated. If the plant is vitia- 

 ted the insects which feed on them suffer. This 

 was the real reason for the failure of the mulberry 

 experiment of some fifty years ago. Then the 

 kind of Morus alba used was the Multicaulis 

 variety. It appealed so much to the raisers of the 

 silk worm by its enormous leaves that there seemed 

 to be no question about its superiority. It was 



raised from cuttings. A weakened vital power 

 was in this way spread. On its introduction it was 

 pronounced as "hardy as a rock," and it was. At 

 length it became, as we read in the reports of those 

 times, " too tender for the vicinity of Philadelphia." 

 But this made no difference, for the insects feeding 

 on diseased leaves fell sick, and with this great dis- 

 aster to Dr. Philip Physick's cocoonery, the " bot- 

 tom fell out of the multicaulis speculation," as the 

 old records say. With all this experience to profit 

 by, if we were to engage in the silk worm busi- 

 ness we should stick to seedlings of the pure Morus 

 alba, and worry very little about improved varie- 

 ties.— Ed. G. M.] 



Natural History and Scimce. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



GRAFTING THE GRAPEVINE ON THE 

 L' EGLANTIER (DOG ROSE). 



TRANSLATED FOR THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY BY 

 MISS S. D. M. 



We read in the Journal du Loiret of Dec. 13, 

 1882, as follows: 



"We described in our number for November 

 loth last, an important discovery made by Mons. 

 Etienne Savary, gardener at Muids, namely, that 

 the Dog Rose was an excellent stock for the grape- 

 vine, so fatally compromised by its redoubtable 

 enemy, the Phylloxera. 



"Subsequently, Mons. Eugene Delaire, General 

 Secretary of the Soci^te d' horticulture d' Orleans, 

 addressed us a note wherein he remarked that the 

 same results could be obtained with the black- 

 berry, since this plant is, like the dog rose, of the 

 family of Rosacae. 



"To-day the energetic practician of Muids ad- 

 dressed us the following interesting letter: 



" MuiDS, December 11, 1882. 



"Mr. Editor — I would have answered sooner 

 the note of the Hon. Mons. Delaire relative to the 

 freaks concerning the grafting of the grapevine 

 on the dog rose, but I wished, first of all, to ascer- 

 tain how many people would appreciate my dis- 

 covery. Many have written to me on the subject, 



most of them believing my method rational, two 

 only doubting it, but I hope to convert them at 

 once. I was unaware that any one had grafted 

 the grapevine on the blackberry, which belongs, 

 like the dog rose, to the family of Rosacae, so well 

 observed by Mons. Delaire. I do not believe, 

 however, that the blackberry roots would be as 

 good as the dog rose for stocks, and for the follow- 

 ing reason : 



" The pith of the blackberry, occupying about 

 two-thirds of the stock, will render it difficult, not- 

 withstanding all the precautions taken to introduce 

 the graft into the opening of the stock, so that the 

 liber would accurately adjust itself. Moreover, if 

 one wishes to lightly bend the head of the graft on 

 the axis of the stock, the liber is not likely to touch 

 at all, and the success of the graft will be in 

 danger. 



" The dog rose does not offer this inconvenience ; 

 its pith and that of the grapevine occupy nearly 

 the same space. Therefore, on one hundred 

 grafted vines, one is certain that if the stocks are 

 vigorous, all will take. The first idea of grafting 

 the grapevine on the dog rose came to me through 

 the analogy of their barks. My first grafts were 

 not made on the dog rose, but on the " ferox " rose, 

 a rosebush known by the English under the name 

 of ' Hedge Hog' (Rosier Harrisoni), introduced in 

 our gardens at the commencement of this cen- 

 tury. I grafted the grapevine on three of these at 



