260 



Grafting Grape Vines. — Sagacity of the Ass. Vol. XII. 



tiraftins: Grape Vines. By Alexander 

 .Marshall, Ehq., West Chester, Pa. 



The cultivation of tiie grape is becoming 

 very extensive as an article for the market, 

 as well as for consumption by those who 

 grow them : and one which cannot be too 

 liighly prized as a delicious and wholesome 

 fruit. Almost every one loves to eat a 

 plate full of good grapes, but very few know 

 how to cultivate tliem, and fewer still know 

 what varieties to select as best suited to the 

 soil and climate of their particular location. 

 So that, after having reared a few vines to a 

 proper bearing age, they are disappointed in 

 the crop by having been unfortunate in their 

 selection. They thus become disheartened, 

 and suffer the vines on which they have 

 be,-towed so much attention, and watched 

 with so much solicitude, to perish for want 

 of the very treatment that would make them 

 productive of good fruit. To such I would 

 say, Cheer up; those vines are very valu- 

 able; their variety can soon be changed by 

 the process of grafting. 



If the reader will have a little patience, I 

 will give him my experience on this subject. 

 Some years ago, I planted a vineyard, and, 

 to make the variety as extensive as possible, 

 having a strong partiality for native plants 

 and fruits, selected cuttings from many wild 

 varieties on the neighbouring hills and in 

 the surrounding valleys. After bestowing a 

 great deal of labour and attention on them 

 for several years, I found that they would 

 not meet my expectations as fruit-bearing 

 vines, and concluded to try the experiment 

 of grafting them. Having prepared myself 

 with scions for the purpose, I commenced 

 one morning, about the last of March, by re- 

 moving the soil from the vine to the depth of 

 live or six inches; sawed off" the vine about 

 two inches below the surface; smoothed the 

 end of the stump with a sharp knife — split 

 the stump in the centre with a chisel — cut 

 the butt end of the graft in the shape of a 

 wedge, so that the first bud would come on, 

 or immediately above, the shoulder of the 

 stump, leaving but two buds on the graft, one 

 of which would come above the surface of 

 the ground. The stumps being from an inch 

 to an inch and a quarter in diameter, I put 

 two grafts in each stump, one in each side, 

 with the outside bark to coincide with that 

 of the stump — covered the top and cleft sides 

 of the stump with grafting wax (made of 

 beeswax, rosin and tallow) so as to prevent 

 the bleeding of the sap — replaced the soil 

 carefully around and over the stump, cover- 

 ing the first bud and leaving one only above 

 the surface, and marked the place with a 

 stake to prevent accident. 1 used no mat- 



ting or tying of any kind, the stump being 

 strong enough to hold the grafts. 



I thus grafted one hundred and twenty 

 vines the same day. It so happened that 

 when the grafts were set in the last twenty 

 stumps, and the wax adjusted, ready for re- 

 placing the soil, I was called from the field 

 for some purpose, and the soil was not re- 

 placed about the stumps for two or three 

 days. Now mark the difference occasioned 

 by so slight an accident. Of the first hun- 

 dred, not more than four or five missed grow- 

 ing — of the last twenty, full one half missed. 

 The grafts that grew, did well, and the next 

 year produced a crop of fine Catawba 

 Grapes. 



I have since grafted grape vines the same 

 way, and with equal success, always being 

 careful to replace the soil immediately. — 

 Hovey''s Magazine of Horticulture. 



Sagacity of the Ass. 



Not a ^e\v pens, and some of great ability, 

 have taken up the defence of this ill-used ani- 

 mal. "The ass," said the prophet of old, 

 " knoweth his master's crib ;" but the ass of 

 our times is not so fortunate, for, as a plea- 

 sant writer observes, the poor beast is utterly 

 unacquainted with the nature of a rack, and 

 knoweth not even the existence of a man- 

 ger. He is a houseless vagrant over com- 

 mons and along lane sides; he is a beast 

 among gipsies, and a gipsy among beasts. 

 He is unfed, untended, unpitied, he is hated, 

 kicked, spurned, thumped, lashed, torment- 

 ed, troubled, and thrashed in every possible 

 and devisable fashion — and for why 1 Your 

 " most exquisite reason," good public ? Alas ! 

 he is — an ass. 



In Britain, the nature and disposition of 

 the ass is quite destroyed through careless- 

 ness and cruelty — 



" The ass grows dull by stripes, the constant blow 

 Beats off his briskness, and he moves but slow." 



But among the peasantry of Spain the ass 

 is a petted liivourite, almost an inmate of 

 the household. The children welcome him 

 home, and the wife teeds him from her hands. 

 Under this kind treatment his intellect ex- 

 pands, and what we denounce as the most 

 stupid of animals actually becomes sagacious, 

 following his master, and coming and going 

 at his bidding. Mrs. Child relates, that a 

 Spanish peasant and his ass had daily, for 

 many years, carried milk round to several 

 customers in Madrid, till at length the pea- 

 sant became very ill, and had no one to send 

 to market. At the suggestion of bis wife, 

 the panniers were filled with canisters of 

 milk; an inscription, written by the priest, 



