256 AMERICAN VINES. 



(d) Removal of roots from the scion. In the month of 

 July the roots growing on the scion are cut off, and the soil 

 earthed up again, although not quite so high. This operation 

 is of great importance. We know that liberated scions obtain 

 the bulk of their food through their own roots; and that 

 those of the stock, becoming useless, cease to develop (Fig. 

 140). The stock remains weak, and consequently the joint is 

 defective. It is important to have strong numerous roots 

 on the stock, together with as strong a joint as possible; 

 this is obtained by the removal of roots from the scion. In 

 the month of September the ridges are completely 

 leveled, and the joints exposed to the air to lignify. We 

 know that the parts of the vine buried underground are 

 always tender and affected by cold. At the same time, new 

 roots which may have developed on the scion are cut off, 

 together with the ligatures which might strangulate the 

 graft. 



However, for grafted cuttings where the stock develops 

 roots slowly (Berlandieri*), it is indispensable to only sever 

 them later on. The roots of the scion serve to nourish the 

 plant, while the stock forms its own roots; they should there- 

 fore only be removed when the stock has rooted. 



(e) Lifting grafted cuttings. The grafted cuttings may 

 be lifted in November and preserved in bundles completely 

 covered with soil. But if they are left in the nursery till the 

 date of planting out, care must be taken to earth them up to 

 the fifth or sixth eye of the shoot, to guard tender herbaceous 

 shoots against spring frosts. 



Well-rooted plants knitted on both sides are alone used. 

 These are known as " first selection"; those knitted on one 



* If the development of the grafted cuttings of Berlandieri is attentively 

 watched from the planting till the end of summer, the following changes are 

 easily noticed: First, the knitting tissue begins to be formed between the stocks 

 and the scion, and the scion commences to grow. This stage is common to all 

 grafted cuttings, whatever grafting stock may be employed. Soon after, voung 

 rootlets appear at the base of the scion, and nothing on the stock except a more 

 or less pronounced pad at the lower section, formed of healing tissue. The 

 plant then grows with the roots of the scion until July. Late in July or August 

 the stock begins to form, just above the pad, a few fine rootlets. The rootlets 

 increase very rapidly, and soon make up for their slowness in forming. The 

 herbaceous development of the scion has thus for two months depended on its 

 own roots. The knitting tissues continue to be progressively formed at the _ ex- 

 pense of the material elaborated by the scion. The reason that grafted cuttings 

 grow better than ungrafted cuttings of Berlandieri is probablv due to the active 

 life of the scion the stock thus receiving, through the action of the knitting 

 tissue, the elaborated materials necessary to assist in it the formation of root*. 



If the roots on the sc'on are cut too early before those of the stock have 

 formed, the growth is'-arrested, and both stock and scion die. 



