78 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OP VITICULTURE 







were more resistant to phylloxera than the Old World varieties. From four 

 to six grafts of each of the hundred varieties were made and a stand of 380 

 vines resulted, the percentage of loss being exceedingly small. The success 

 in grafting we believe to be due to the method used, the value of which 

 had been proved in previous work on the station grounds. 



In grafting, the earth was removed from the plants to a depth of two or 

 three inches. The vines were sawed squarely off below the surface of the 

 ground. The stock was then split for a cleft graft. Two scions were inserted 

 in each cleft and tied in place with waxed string. Grafting wax was not used, 

 the wax being worse than useless because of the bleeding of the wounds in 

 the stock. . The earth was then replaced and enough more of it used to cover 

 stock and scion to prevent evaporation from them. This method of grafting 

 is available to those who have old vineyards. It is so simple that the veriest 

 tyro can thus graft grapes. Were young plants or cuttings used as stocks 

 some method of bench-grafting would, of course, be resorted to. 



The cultivation and spraying have been precisely that given native 

 grapes. There has been no coddling of vines. The fungous diseases which 

 helped to destroy the vineyards and vexed the souls of the old experimenters 

 have been kept well in check by two sprayings with Bordeaux mixture; the 

 first application was made just after the fruit set, the second when the 

 grapes were two-thirds grown. This year, 1914, a third spraying with a 

 tobacco concoction kept thrips in check. Phylloxera is present in the vine- 

 yard but no one of the varieties on the resistant roots is appreciably suffering 

 from the pest. It need hardly be said that the immunity to phylloxera secured 

 by grafting is the chief reason for the success we are having with these 

 grapes undoubtedly this pest was the chief cause of the early failures. The 

 stocks used in the present work are not those best suited either to the vines 

 grafted on them or to resist phylloxera. Unquestionably some of the standard 

 sorts used in France and California from Vitis rupestris or Vitis riparia, or 

 hybrids of these species, would have given better results. From theoretical 

 consideration it would seem that the Vitis riparia stocks should be best 

 suited to the needs of eastern America. 



It was thought by the old experimenters that Vitis vinifera failed in the 

 New World because of unfavorable climatic conditions. It was said that 

 the winters were too cold and the summers too hot and dry for this grape. 

 During the few years the station vineyard of Viniferas has been in existence 

 we have had stresses of all the kinds of weather to which the variable climate 

 of New York is subject. Two winters have been exceedingly cold, killing 

 peach and pear trees; one summer gave us the hottest weather and the 

 hottest day in twenty-five years; the vines withstood two severe summer 

 drouths and one cold, wet summer. These test seasons have proved that 

 European grapes will stand our climate as well as the native varieties except 

 in the matter of cold they must have winter protection. 



To growers of American grapes the extra work of winter protection 

 seems to be an insuperable obstacle. The experience of several seasons at 

 Geneva shows that winter protection is a cheap and simple matter. Two 

 methods have been used; vines have been covered with earth and others 

 wrapped with straw. The earth covering is the cheaper method and the 

 more efficient. The vines are pruned and placed full length on the ground 

 and covered with a few inches of earth. The cost of winter protection will 



