FARM, ORCHARD, DAIRY AND GARDEN. 



5*7 



-writes: "I have positively abandoned 

 cleft grafting; it is too much trouble and 

 too uncertain, and the graft often makes 

 its own roots. I assure you that from a 

 long experience in inarching, I am of the 

 opinion that not alone the Delaware but 

 most of our cultivated varieties will do 

 better on native wild roots than on their 

 own. I have fourteen acres of vines 

 mostly grafted in this manner on wild 

 stocks, and I have not lost one of such 

 grafts. It is preferable to graft at from 

 ten to fifteen inches from the ground." 



Another mode of grafting above ground 

 is thus given in " The Cultivation of the 

 Grape:" 



"After the first four or five leaves are 

 formed, and the sap is flowing, you choose 

 the place on the vine where you intend 

 to graft. At that point wrap tightly a 

 twine several times around the vine. 

 This will, in a measure, prevent the 

 return sap. 



" Below the ligature make a sloping 

 cut down, as shown at Figure 50, a ; 

 also, a similar reversed one 

 above the ligature, as at b, 

 about one inch in length. 

 In selecting a cion prefer 

 one that has naturally a 

 bend. Cut it so that it shall 

 be wedge-shaped at both 

 ends, and a little longer 

 than the distance between 

 the cuts in the vine at a 

 and b. Insert the cion, 

 taking care to have the 

 barks in direct contact, 

 securing it with a string, c, 

 bound round both cion 

 and vine sufficiently tight 

 to force the cion ends into 

 their places. If the work 

 is done well, no tie will be 

 required at a and b, but the 

 joints should be covered 

 with grafting wax. In a 

 short time, the bud at </will commence 

 its growth, after which you can by degrees 

 remove all the growing shoots not belong- 

 ing to the cion, and in course of the sum- 

 mer you may cut off the wood above b, 

 and in the fall remove all above a on the 

 ■stock, and above c on the cion. 



Still another mode of grafting which has, 

 we believe, seldom, if ever, been attempt- 

 ed in this part of the country, but which 



has been employed with much satisfaction 

 the past year by a few vine growers in 

 France, and especially by M. H. Bouschet, 

 of Montpellier, remains to be mentioned. 

 It is the winter grafting of a cutting of 

 such variety as is desired to grow, upon 

 another which is to 

 be used as stock, the 

 combined cuttings 

 being planted in the 

 usual manner in 

 spring, leaving only 

 the buds on the 

 graft proper out of 

 ground. This is 

 very similar to our 

 ordinary mode of 

 making apple grafts; 

 and while we have 

 little or no experi- 

 ence in this country 

 on which to base 

 anticipations, the 

 method is worthy of 

 trial, and is illus- 

 trated at figure 51. 

 But not to weary 

 With details, we here 

 reaffirm my belief, 

 5 1, strengthened by 



each further observation, and by every ad- 

 ditional experience of the past years, that 

 just as the working of the root-louse is the 

 primal cause of failure of some of our 

 choicest varieties of the grapevine, so in 

 judicious grafting we have the most avail- 

 able means of counteracting its work, and 

 of thus growing successfully many of 

 those kinds which cannot be grown in 

 this latitude with any profit or success on 

 their own roots. 



GRAFTING. — In grafting, a sharp pen- 

 knife and a good fine saw are indispensa- 

 ble. Splitting the stalk so that the bark 

 shall not be at all bruised, and shaping 

 the scion wedge-fashion both ways, pre- 

 serving also the bark uninjured, and plac- 

 ing the rim of the wood of both stock 

 and cion exactly together, so that the 

 sap can intermingle, there is no danger 

 of failure if they are properly waxed. 

 One year's wood should always be used 

 when it can be obtained, as it is more 

 certain to take, and grows more vigor- 

 ously. For grafting generally, any time 

 is good when growth is going on, and 

 there is not too much sap in the cion ; 



Fig. 



