36 AMERICAN GBAPE GROWING 



CHAPTER V. 



GRAFTING THE VINE. 



The advantages to be gained by grafting are so evi- 

 dent that, although it was almost an unknown art forty 

 years ago when I began its practice, it has become a ne- 

 cessity to every grape grower. It is a little more diffi- 

 cult than the same operation on fruit trees, yet it is so 

 simple that any one familiar with the use of a sharp 

 knife can easily acquire the art. The experience of forty 

 years has taught me that the simplest methods of graft- 

 ing the vine are the best for common use, especially 

 where it must be done on a large scale, as a protection 

 against phylloxera, and where skillful hands are not 

 always available. When whole vineyards of resistant 

 stocks are to be grafted in a few weeks, the labor must 

 be divided. While each operation is simple in itself, 

 with only inexperienced labor at hand it is best to give 

 each a special task, which he can soon learn to success- 

 fully perform. 



With these few preliminary remarks, we will first con- 

 sider the advantages to be gained by grafting; secondly, 

 the best time to do it; and thirdly, how to do it to be 

 most successful. 



I. Its advantages. The facility with which new and 

 valuable varieties can be increased and their fruit tested : 

 If grafts of bearing wood are worked upon strong stocks, 

 they will bear a few bunches the same season and a full 

 crop the next. The ease by which healthy stocks of no 

 value can be changed into the most valuable bearing 

 kinds : Varieties which are difficult to grow from cut- 

 tings can be propagated with the greatest ease by graft- 

 ing. Increased fruitfulness : The temporary obstruction 

 by grafting seems to have the effect upon the graft of 



