Grapes. 383 



ders of the propagating house, the leaves forming one continuous 

 green surface. These are kept constantly moist by watering them 

 from the watering pot, three or four times a day. In about three 

 weeks they will be fit to remove to pots, and are then to be treated 

 like other plants. They generally succeed best by being kept in the 

 house during the remainder of the season, the wood ripening better 

 and the vines becoming hardier, than if planted out in open ground, 

 where there is not sufficient warmth to mature and harden the green 

 wood. 



ROOT GRAFTING. This mode has also been extensively adopted 

 for propagating on a large scale. It is done by taking a por- 

 tion of the shoot with one bud, as shown in the annexed fig- 

 ure (Fig. 421), and inserting a piece of root cut wedge-form 

 into a cleft in the lower end of the cutting. Grafting plas- 

 ters bind the parts together, but they are left open below for 

 the emission of roots. Varieties which furnish long, smooth 

 roots, are most convenient, of which the Concord is one of 

 the best. The grafts are placed in shallow boxes of a con- 

 venient size, or about one by two feet, and three inches 

 deep, and bottom heat given as before described, but less 

 care is required in controlling the temperature. 



GRAFTING IN OPEN GROUND. Large vines and vine- 

 yards of undesirable sorts, are sometimes changed to bet- 

 ter, by grafting. It is uncertain of success, at best ; although 

 the grafts, when they do not fail to grow, push with great 

 vigor, and frequently extend twenty feet or more in a single 

 season. There are three different modes ; one is to graft 

 early in spring down into the root ; the second is to defer 

 the work until the buds swell and bleeding ceases, pre- 

 serving the grafts in a dormant state in a cool place. The R^i Grift. 

 third, and generally the most successful, is grafting in 

 autumn, according to the mode described in Fuller's Grape Culturist. 

 A cleft graft is made at or near the surface of the earth, and the parts 

 firmly bound together. An inverted pot is then placed over it and 

 banked with earth, except the top, which is covered with six inches 

 of straw, and the whole then buried in earth. This is removed in 

 spring. Grafting in the open air appears to be so easily influenced 

 by so many external causes, as frequently to result in entire failure, 

 even in the most skilful hands. 



