1 82 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[June, 



the end of February, 1873. In July, 1875, my 

 vines were more than three meters in length. I 

 am unaware whether they are still in the park at 

 Cercay or not. Since then, I have always grafted 

 on the dog rose (Rosa canina), and have always 

 been successful. At present 1 possess twenty-five 

 plants of dog rose, grafted only six weeks ago, 

 with different varieties of grapevines. 1 force 

 them under frames. The rosy tint of the grape 

 vine leaves can already be detected pushing from 

 the bud. 



"This is my way of proceeding: The dog rose 

 must be grafted on about ten centimeters below 

 the earth. It is sufficient if the graft has two or 

 three eyes. A very short graft must be chosen, 

 that is to say, the eyes very close to each other; 

 tie the stock well with wool or cotton, and apply 

 the wax to it. In grafting let the ground be well 

 watched, because the grapevine root would give a 

 chance to Phylloxera. It is necessary to look 

 ahead with an enemy with which one must combat. 



" I have been asked why, since 1873, I have 

 taken no one into the secret of this discovery. On 

 the contrary, I have done so, but sad to say, some 

 have not deigned to answer me ; others, like 

 Mons. Pasteur, answered that they were not qual- 

 ified to undertake work relating to the Phylloxera. 



" Rebuffed and discouraged, I decided to do 

 nothing more towards propagating or diffusing 

 what I knew to be of so much value towards ren- 

 ovating our vineyards, when I received your invi- 

 tation to address the large circle of your estima- 

 ble journal. 



"To resume. Can one, with the dog rose (Rosa 

 canina) as the stock, establish a vineyard ? I be- 

 lieve it. With the blackberry I have doubts, 

 because it would not give all the conditions of 

 longevity required for long cultivation. 



" Virgil was assuredly a great poet, but I do not 

 see too much the relations existing between the 

 immortal author of the ' Eneid ' and the graft on 

 the dog rose. Let us, therefore, leave to the anti- 

 podes the discussion whether the grape can be 

 grafted on the cucumber, and employ ourselves 

 seriously to the common enemy, the Phylloxera. 

 " Respectfully, etc., 



" Etienne Savarv." 



Under the title of " Pretended Grafting of the 

 Grapevine on the Blackberry," the journal 

 Provence Agricole et Horticole published the fol- 

 lowing reflections : 



" Much noise has recently been made with the 

 pretended grafting of the grapevine on the black- 

 berry, described by the Ardeche to the minister by 



an inspector general of agriculture. Proceeding 

 to verify the fact, there was found no mystery. 

 The Chasselas grape graft sent out roots into the 

 ground like a simple cutting, but there was no 

 union at all with the blackberry. This specimen 

 has been sent to the School of Agriculture of 

 Montpelier, and Mons. Foex acknowledged that 

 the graft did not take, and that the grapevine was 

 absolved, living with its own roots without any 

 trace of aid from the blackberry root. 



"The laws of grafting are, moreover, well 

 known. They are exact, and established through 

 numerous experiences, and these laws of consan- 

 guinity are not contradicted by any facts. They 

 have been largely developed, with proofs for their 

 support by Mons. Ch. Baltet, in his work on ' The 

 Art of Grafting.' 



" It is readily to be seen, in the chapter on the 

 vine, that the Vitis, Ampelopsis, and Cissus of the 

 family of Ampelidaes, are the only genera which 

 can be united to the grapevine by grafting." 



[Our American papers are noting with a good 

 deal of wonderment the so-called great discovery, 

 "by a distinguished Frenchman," of the success- 

 ful grafting of the grapevine on the dog rose. We 

 have thought it would serve a good purpose to 

 give our readers the fullest account we have seen 

 of it. It will be observed that, hke the grafting of 

 the apple on the persimmon, which created some 

 attention in this country some years ago, it is a 

 case where the " distinguished Frenchman " has 

 deceived himself. — Ed. G. M.] 



HYBRIDIZING ARACEOUS PLANTS. 



BY CHARLES CRUCKNELL, ST. LOUIS, MO. 



In the article published in the December num- 

 ber, allusion was made incidentally to the facility 

 with which Caladiums can be successfully crossed. 

 I now present some additional facts on the subject 

 in connection with a class of plants known to gar- 

 deners by the generic name of Diffenbachia, but 

 which are also classed by some botanists as a spe- 

 cies of Caladium. 



I was fortunate in bringing these two classes of 

 plants into bloom at the same time ; therefore you 

 will see there was every reason for believing the 

 result would terminate successfully. I used pol- 

 len of Caladiums bicolbr, poecile, Houlletii, Neu- 

 manii and six other kinds, on flowers of Dieffen- 

 bachias, picta, Bauseia and Baraquiniana. 



One would naturally suppose that if these plants 

 are closely allied species of the same genus, the 

 fact of hybridizing them would be a simple matter. 



