THE VINE. ] 569 



tiny black grapes and are useful for the supply of seed, 

 and others growing near them flower abundantly but are 

 male plants with aborted pistil and therefore no berries 

 are formed or only occasionally, and the bunches dry up 

 as soon as the flowering is over. These last have a 

 more vigorous habit and are useful for the supply of 

 cuttings and layers for grafting stock, particularly certain 

 plants with large shining leaves and long thick canes. 

 Indeed such are the transcendent merits of the species 

 V. Berlandieri for our soils and climate on account of its 

 great resistance to the Phylloxera, to prolonged periods 

 of heat and drought, and to calcareous soils even of the 

 worst description, that fuller details as to its qualities and 

 peculiarities would be welcomed by the local grower. 



It is a native of Texas and other hot and dry 

 regions of N. America, and is an excellent graft-bearer 

 for European vines, which on account of its sturdy habit 

 even under the most adverse conditions are enabled to 

 grow well in soils where the cultivation of the European 

 vine on own roots would be otherwise impossible. Thus, 

 it will grow well on the whitish and .dry soils where the 

 European vine on own roots would give but poor results, 

 as well as on the stony soils and also 011 badly drained 

 clayey lands where the European vines are liable to suffer 

 from root trouble. Moreover the knitting of the graft is 

 usually very perfect, without any appreciable difference 

 in the diameter of the stem at the point of union between 

 the stock and the scion. Another important considera- 

 ti >n is the great vigour and high productivity of the 

 European vine when grafted on Berlandieri stock, thus 

 showing that there is close affinity between the two 

 species. Therefore, V. Berlandieri is clearly marked 

 as the most desirable graft-bearer for calcareous soils in 

 warm and dry climates, and we resort to the use of its 

 hybrids above mentioned solely on account of the difficulty 

 often experienced in propagating it from cuttings. 



