﻿110 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



cess. I took the ground away from the crown of the vine until I came to a smooth 

 place, then cut off the stock, split it with a grafting chisel and inserted from one to 

 two cions, according to size of stock, cut to a long wedge with shoulders on each side. 

 I used no bandages, as the stocks were strong enough to hold the cions tirmly, and 

 only pressed moist earth on the cut to cover the wound. This was done on the 22d 

 and 23d of March, and the cion covered and shaded to the top bud. About three- 

 fourths of the grafts grew vigorously and truited the next year. They have produced 

 heavy crops ever since, and when at Hermann, a week ago, I still found them vigorous 

 and healthy, while the Catawbas around them have "passed away" several years ago. 

 I have practiced various methods since, with more or less success, and still think this 

 the best and most practicable, though it is neither an easy nor a pleasant task, as it 

 must be performed when the ground is still cold and moist, and requires a good deal of 

 stooping. The inner bark or liber of the vine is very thin, while the outer bark is very 

 thick on a large old stock. The success of the operation depends entirely on a good 

 junction of the liber of stock and cion, and therefore requires a steady hand and a good 

 eye to push the cion to its place. My friends, the venerable Fr. Muench and Samuel 

 Miller, practice about the same method, and are both almost invariably successful. 

 The cions should, if possible, be cut in Fall and kept on the north side of a building or 

 fence, so as tt) remain dormant. Should the stock not be strong enough to hold the 

 cion lirmlv. it should be tied with basswood bark, or an oblique cut be made instead of 

 a split. This is preferable in small vines any way, as by so doing, the fibres of stock 

 and cions are both cut obliquely, and therefore make a closer tit. 



There are other diiferent methods. Another, which I will mention here, has been 

 practiced at Hermann with very good success, though I have not been very successful 

 with it. It has the advantage of saving the vine, provided the graft does not take. It 

 is done by simply making an oblique cut into the stock below the surface or crown, 

 and inserting the cion, cut to a rather blunt wedge, by bending the stock to one side, 

 and thereby opening the cut. If the cion takes, the stock is cut off above it. Another 

 method is grafting under the bark later in the season, when the sap flows freely and the 

 bark peels readily ; a long, slanting cut is made on one side of the cion, the stock cut 

 off square, the bark lifted with a knife, and the cion pushed down under it. Every one 

 who has practiced budding will readily perform this operation. The stock is then tied 

 with basswood bark. 1 have followed this plan with varied success later in the season, 

 but prefer th^ first method. I think grafting above ground impracticable in our clir- 

 mate, on account of the high winds and drying influence of our Summer sun. 



As to the advantages to be gained by grafting, they are manifold. They maybe 

 summed up as follows : 



1. The facility it gives us to try and fruit new and rare kinds by grafting them on 

 strong stocks of healthy varieties, where they will often make wood strong enough for 

 fruiting the next season, and give us abundance of propagating wood^ thus gaining 

 more than a year. 



2. Nearly every vineyard contains some worthless varieties, which are, however, 

 strong and healthy growers. These can, by grafting, be changed into the most valu- 

 able varieties. 



3. The facility by which varieties which are very diflScult to propagate may be 

 increased and multiplied, as nearlj^ every variety will graft readily. 



4. Last, but not least, it gives us a means of successfully combating the Phyllox- 

 era, as your experiments have so conclusively proven. If the Catawba and many of our 

 other most valuable varieties, have deteriorated because this little insect has been to work 

 on their roots, and the roots of other varieties are comparatively exempt from its rava- 

 ges, the remedy would indeed be a very simple one. By planting such varieties as pro- 

 pagate readily, and also graft with ease, they could be changed by grafting the second 

 Spring. I know, from experience, that slow growing varieties can be made to grow 

 much more vigorously by grafting on stocks of strong and healthy growers. The most 

 vigorous and productive Delavvare I know around Hermann, was grafted on a Norton's 

 Virginia, and produced an abundance of fine fruit, when Delawares on their own roots, 

 in the same vineyard, dropped their leaves, and did not ripen their fruit. It is cer- 

 tainly ot the utmost importance that experiments of this kind should be made, and 1 

 would advise all lovers of the Catawba and Delaware to try it. 



But now the question arises, what stock shall we choose? The Clinton, though 

 easy ot growth, is a poor stock, as it suckers inveteratelj', and, besides, has not the 

 affinity to most of our valuable varieties which makes them take readily on it. In fact, 

 I do not consider any of the Kiparia or Cordifolia class as good stocks, for Labrusca 

 and its hybrids, or ^Estivalis. But the Concord seems to me eminently the stock to 

 graft upon. Easy of propagation, within the reach of every one, with the adaptability 

 to anj' soil it possesses, and as nearl}' every variety will unite readily with it, it seems^ 

 as if hardly a better one could be found. But were I to plant it for this purpose, 1 

 would take good, strong plants, say at least one foot long from the cutting to the- 



