PRUNING, GRAFTING AND BUDDING 33 



near vines, robbing the ground of moisture, whin the latter are in 

 great need of it, also prevents proper development of the sugar- 

 contents of the fruit. The sugar is highest, if vines on rich ground 

 are trained to a high spreading head and pruned with numerous 

 short fruit spurs and on poor ground to a low and close head with 

 few canes. On intermediate soils the pruning and training should 

 be between the two extremes. 



Head or stool pruning is best adapted to California condi- 

 tions, as the ground can be more carefully worked and its moisture 

 contents better regulated. Varieties like Petite Sirah, Alicante 

 Bouschet, Beclan and others will bear just as well and more reg- 

 ularly by head-training and pruning to 4 or 5 buds, or even less in 

 some places, than by leaving long horizontal canes. It is best to 

 put varieties like Riesling, Cabernet, Sauvignon blanc, Semillan, 

 etc., which do not bear except with very long canes, horizontally 

 placed, on gravelly, loose soils, which are not so subject to drying 

 out and can be more easily worked; or they may be put on steep 

 hillsides, which can be conveniently worked only in one direction. 

 If the soil is very poor, it is best to train any of the varieties men- 

 tioned to a very low head, leave only one long cane and bend it 

 around in a bow, the tip end almost touching the ground, or thib 

 can be run into the ground 5 or 6 inches and the bow above tied to a 

 picket. This also gives the vine more stability against strong 

 winds. 



2. Grafting. According to the size of the stocks there are 

 two principal methods of grafting, the common cleft graft and the 

 English cleft or tongue graft. Instead of the former, if stocks are 

 of sufficient size, the saw-in method, as I generally call it, may be 

 practiced. This mode of grafting is done by cutting across the 

 edge of the stump with a California pruning saw. The cut is 

 trimmed out on the sides with a sharp pruning or budding knife. 

 A shoemaker's leather knife, which has a narrow, thin blade and is 

 made of good material, is very handy for this purpose. The scion 

 is shaped by first cutting it in wedge form as in the common cleft 

 graft, and then making another slanting cut opposite the bud, from 

 the node down to the point, which should have about the thickness 

 of the width in the cut of the stock at its lower end. The two edges 

 on the cut of the scion are shaved down a little, so they do not 

 hinder in making a close fit. The scion is then inserted and driven 

 down with a small wooden mallet. It requires a good deal of prac- 

 tice to make this graft properly, but if this is acquired, it is quickly 

 and effectively done. The wood of the scion should press snugly 

 in its full length against the wood of the stock, in order to enable 

 the former to draw sap immediately. The inside of the bark of the 

 scion should fit against the inside of the bark of the stock in order 

 to make proper connection through the callousing of scion and 

 stock. 



This graft has the advantage over the common cleft graft in 

 that the stock can be cut off just above a node, at which a connec- 

 tion is made much more easily than at an internode. If the bud on 

 the stock is in a smooth place, it can be cut out with the saw, and 



