10 Jan., 1917. J Tlit Summer Bud, etc., oj the Vine. 41 



Leaves narrow, linear, H to 3 iuclies long, more or less toothed, or 

 rarely quite even. Flower spike oblong, cylindrical, 3 to 6 inches long. 

 Fruiting cone cylindrical, seed capsules thick and scarcely protruding. 



The Hill Banksia is said to produce nectar so freely at times that it 

 runs down on to the ground. Nothing definite, however, is known on 

 this point, as probably no large apiary has so far been located near a con- 

 siderable number of this Banksia. Like the Desert Bankisa, it is orna- 

 mental, and worthy of cultivation in gardens. 



(To be continued.) 



THE SUMMER BUD, OR "YEMA" GRAFT OF THE VINE. 



Bi/ F. de Castella, Governuunt Vitiriilturist. 



To plant a vineyard liable to destruction by phylloxera would be, to 

 say the least, illogical, even in districts into which the insect has not 

 yet found its way. It is already firmly established in several widely 

 separated portions of the State, and the time will inevitably come when 

 the whole of Victoria will be infested. In already phylloxerated areas, 

 the resistant .stock is, of course, indis,pensable, and the plantation of vines 

 with vulnerable roots is quite out of the question. 



A vineyard on resistant stocks may be established in two ways : — 



1. Plantation of already grafted vines raised in a nursery, or, as 



they are usually called, " bench grafts." 



2. Field grafting — in other words, the plantation of the vineyard 



with ungrafted resistant vines or stocks, which will subse- 

 quently be grafted to the European or " Vinifera " variety, 

 from which it is desired to obtain fruit. 

 Field grafting, though the older method, has been gradually and 

 very generally suj^erseded in France by the planting of nursery-raised 

 bench grafts, which renders possible the immediate establisliment of an 

 absolutely homogeneous vineyard, since it permits the weeding out, when 

 lifting from the nursery, of all faulty grafts j only those being planted in 

 wliicli the union between stock and scion is flawless, thus insuring abso- 

 lute evenness of the plantation, or what is called in Oalifoi-nia, " a good 

 stand." 



The chief objection to field grafting, especially in the colder climate 

 of northern Europe, is that a completely even stand can rarely be relied 

 upon. Unless the spring be exceptionally favorable for the operation 

 of grafting, gaps occur where vines have failed, as well as 

 a certain proportion of faulty grafts which scarcely ever de- 

 velop into thrifty vines. In our warmer Australian climate, 

 weather conditions in spring are more favorable for graft- 

 ing, and except in such an unusual season as the present one, results 

 are generally far more satisfactory. Our climate is more similar to that 

 of Spain and Portugal, where field grafting is held in higher esteem than 

 in France. Nevertheless, even with us, anything which can insure a 

 higher percentage of perfect unions will be a distinct boon to those 

 reconstituting by means of field grafting, and the. graft about to be 

 described undoubtedly contributes to this result, both by the perfection 

 of the union, and by the second chance it provides, of re-grafting the 

 following spring, any of the summer grafts which have failed, or which 

 are unsatisfactory. 



