Grafting tJie Vine. 



119 



each twelve inches wide, nailed to- 

 gether at right angles, which place 

 over the cuttings. In ten days you 

 will find every vine has made a start, 

 then raise the covering on the north 

 side, about four inches, to admit light 

 and air, and gradually raise higher, as 

 the vines grow, and towards the end 

 of summer remove altogether. 



By this plan I have made superior 

 plants, not losing five per cent. 



Youi's, sincerely, 



Wm. Haskins, 



City Engineer. 



[Thanks for your interesting com- 

 munication. We are glad to hear 

 that 3'ou succeed so well with grapes. 

 We desire to see grapes grow and 

 succeed well ever3"where. 



The Norton, Cynthiana and Her- 

 mann are the most obstinate of all 

 the varieties to propagate we have, 

 much more so than even the Delaware. 

 Your method we think a good one, 

 but most too expensive to be followed 

 oil a larger scale. A heavy mulch 

 will almost answer the same purpose, 

 in our opinion, but our readers can 

 not go amiss by trying both. — Ed.] 



GRAFTING THE VINE. 



Friend Husmann : 



In the March number of the Grape 

 CuLTURiST I notice that a subscriber of 

 Warsaw, 111., intends taking up an 

 acre of Catawbas and replacing them 

 with something better. Why did you 

 not tell him in j'our editorial remarks 

 to graft them instead of removing and 

 replacing with others ? 



If they are not diseased l^e^'ond re- 

 demption he certainly will gain largely 

 b\' grafting them. Let it be done 

 deep, say six inches below the surface 

 of the ground, in which case the new 

 variety will in a few j^ears be estab- 

 lished upon its own foundation. 



AYere it my case, and the Catawba 

 vines in anything like health, I would 

 not have his proposed change made, if 

 some one would furnish the new vines 

 free of cost and do all the w^ork of tak- 

 ing up the okl and planting the new in 

 the bargain. 



If the coming season be a fruitful 

 one for the vine I think we can show 



3'ou the importance of using old stocks 

 after the above advised plan. 



In your remarks on Werth's Graft- 

 ing the vine, w here 3^ou state that for 

 late grafting, that is, when the leaves 

 have expanded, the scions should be 

 kept dormant. This is not quite the 

 thing I fear, although it was formerl}' 

 my impression. 



If your vine is in full vigor of start- 

 ing growth, and 3'^our graft quite dor- 

 mant, the vine will have a great ten- 

 dency to break out in lots of suckers 

 before the graft can callous and unite, 

 and often drown it, as it were. 



But let your grafts be in a forward 

 condition, saj^ the buds nearly- ready to 

 burst, and success is almost certain, if 

 the operation is well done. 



Last spring I set two Creton grafts 

 which had started nearly an inch upon 

 vines that had grown two feet or more 

 successfully, while i^ome other sorts, 

 which I had kept back, nearly all 

 failed 



