RESISTANT VINES; THEIR SELECTION, ADAPTATION, ETC. 47 



Pinching back, as is sometimes deemed necessary, is a useless opera- 

 tion, though it is a harmless one. 



Great care should be taken to sulphur well the young growth on the 

 grafted vine against oidium (powdery mildew), and treat with Bordeaux 

 mixture against peronospora (downy mildew) and black rot. 



Sometimes rooted vines from the nursery are planted in autumn, to be 

 grafted the following spring, or in May. In this case there is really a 

 better chance of successful grafting than in the case the cutting has 

 been planted an entire year or more previously that is, if the rooted 

 vine is in healthy condition. 



Choice and Preservation of Scions. In choosing the scions, one should 

 be very careful to take canes only from the most vigorous and fruitful 

 vines in the vineyard. It pays, and pays well, to go over the vineyard, 

 just before the vintage, and mark with paint or a cloth the vines that 

 are especially heavy bearers, and take scions from these only. Careful 

 experiments on this subject have been made for a great many years, 

 and it has been established beyond dispute that, either for cuttings or 

 grafts, it is more profitable to select the cuttings or grafts from those vines 

 that possess in the greatest degree the qualities desired in the vineyard that 

 one is planting. 



Scions for early grafting (February) can be taken directly from the 

 vines, while those for later grafting should be cut off before the first 

 movement of the sap, and carefully preserved in a cold room, exposed 

 to the north, and they should be buried in almost dry sand. They 

 should be completely covered with sand. For, as has been said, the stock 

 calluses slowly, and it is essential that it be further advanced than 

 the scion. 



CUTTING GRAFTING. 



Canes of the American resistants destined to be " cutting grafted " 

 should be i inch in diameter at the " small end." They are cut 10 to 

 11 inches in length. The lower section is made below, and as near as 

 possible to the eye (Fig. 2). This is on account of the facility with 

 which roots form near the eyes. The upper section is made 1 to 1-J 

 inches above the upper eye. It is well known that the most numerous, 

 as well as the most vigorous, roots grow from the eye itself, rather than 

 nearer the middle of the internode. This is especially necessary for all 

 vines that grow with difficulty from cuttings. 



One can use the entire cane of an American resistant vine as a 

 "cutting stock," with the sole proviso that it has a sufficiently great 

 diameter to enable it to hold the scion in place. Theoretically it can 

 be done with almost any sized cane, but practically it has been found 

 that about i inch is the least diameter of a "stock cutting" (unless 

 in the hands of a most experienced grafter). With selected varieties, 

 especially if these have been grown for some years on rich, moist land, 

 or grafted on old, vigorous stocks, the canes are almost sufficiently large. 



Here it might be well to note that those who are in haste to " get 

 wood " from a few cuttings, should cut the cuttings into short scions and 

 at once graft on some vigorous vine (resistant or non-resistant, it makes 

 no difference), and they can get abundant wood the same year. One 

 cannot depend on getting scions or cuttings, large enough for " cutting 

 grafts," from any resistant the first year, if planted out in place or in 

 nursery. This was well illustrated in 1896 at the place of John Swett, 



