74 



Journal of Agriculture. 



[lo Feb., 1909., 



A deep la\er is brought down from the European vine it is intended 

 to replace, into the end of which is grafted an American cutting. This- 

 cutting, supplied as it is with sap from the vine bearing the layer on 

 to which it is grafted, makes very vigorous growth so that towards the 

 end of the summer following, it can be bud grafted with the European 

 scion desired. Fruit will be produced the following year. As soon as 

 properly established the young vine is separated from the layer at the 

 point marked A. The original vines are eradicated and one would thus 

 have a grafted resistant vineyard, almost without loss of crop. Attractive 

 as the system is in theory, things do not appear to work out so well in 

 practice and, although tried on a fairly large scale by Don Jose Vidal, 

 he has since found it pays better to root out and replant in the ordinary 

 way, that is. either with Barbados to be field grafted later or with 

 nursery raised bench grafts. 



VIDAL S GRAFT. 



As rej^ards stocks the same ones are to be met with as in Navarra 

 and La Rioja. So far as they are concerned there is nothing very novel 

 to report, except perhaps that Don Rafael is less severe on V. Riparia as 

 a stock than some of his countrymen. In deep fertile " Riparia soils," 

 particularly if they be free from excess of lime, he considers V. Riparia 

 to be a stock of value. 



As regards scions, the chief varieties used are Garnacho, Maseguera, 

 Monastrell, Forcalla, and the various other red varieties, common to 

 northern Spain for the production of rather full bodied wines. For the 

 wines of the Levante are amongst the heaviest blending wines in Spain. 



One variety peculiar to the region deserves mention and may possibly 

 prove a valuable introduction to Australia. This is the Bobal. a heavy 

 bearing sort producing a fairly full bodied wine. This variety had 

 alreadv been mentioned to me by Don N. de los Salmones in Pamplona 

 as being superior to the French Aramon as a quantity sort. Don Rafael, 

 in answer to my question, explained that it is very difficult to adopt to 

 its surroundings and that only in a few localities does it find itself at 

 home. In the neighbourhood of Requena, in the hills above Valencia, 

 it is cultivated to the exclusion of nearly all other sorts^ — here it gives 

 heavy crops of good wine. Remove it from its home and quality suffers 

 whilst the yield is no longer sufficient to render its cultivation profitable. 

 Possibly we might find a district specially suited for it in Australia, our 

 climate being so similar to that of Span. At any rate its several good 

 qualities in a locality which suit it should make it certainly worthy of 

 a trial. 



