494 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CULTURE OF THE VINE. 



to planting the cuttings in a nursery, to be remo- 

 ved when two, three, or four years o!;l, to their 

 permanent situation. So many cuttin^"s fail, that, 

 when a vineyard is attempted hy planting tiiem to 

 remain, it requires several years to fill up the va- 

 cant places, which renders the })lants in the same 

 vineyard very uneven in size and age, and the lar- 

 ger ones always dispute successfully the possession 

 of the ground to the smaller and younger. By 

 planting them in a nursery, they need not be put 

 so deep ; and by planting them more sloping, they 

 may very easily be taken up without injury to the 

 roots, and if they are transplanted with care, not 

 two in the hundred will be lost. Rooted plants, 

 then, render a vineyard much more even and regu- 

 lar than when planted with cuttings, one half of 

 which, and often a much greater proportion, will die 

 One mode of propagating the vine is often re- 

 sorted to, and, when circumstances will admit of it, 

 is highly advantageous; for by it you may convert 

 in one season, the native vines, males or females, 

 or a vineyard of unsuitable grapes, into such a one 

 as you may desire, if you have scions or cuttings 

 of the kinds you prefer. This mode is grafting. 

 Although the manner of performing this operation 

 is pretty generally known and practised for all 

 sorts of fruit trees; yet many persons, who never 

 have i)erlormed it, may be at a loss how to proceed. 

 It is also proper to notice here, that of all the differ- 

 ent methods used for grafting fruit trees, only two 

 or three of them can be used with facilily and suc- 

 cess for the vine; for, although it may be grafted 

 probably according to every method used for com- 

 mon fruit trees, yet, so Jiir as I have tried it, all the 

 methods but two require great atlention and very 

 particular care, which do not always insure success ; 

 whereas, the two methods alluded to very seldom 

 foil, even with the most ordinary skill or care in 

 the performance. As an example, I will notice 

 the most couuiion way of grafting ordinary fruit 

 trees, by cleft grafting above tl.e ground. Every 

 body knows that by cutting off the top of a young 

 tree, or the branches of a larger one, splitting it 

 with a knife, and inserting in it a short scion cut at 

 the lower end in the form of a wedge, putting it 

 down on one sitle, so that the inner bark of the 

 stock and that of the graft, meet and coincide, ty- 

 ing itandco\ering it with prepared clay or a ])laster 

 of a suitable composition, such a grail will usually 

 grow and do well ^^■ith the ordinary precautions 

 used in such cases. But let vines l-e grafted in this 

 manner, unless the operator knows the particular 

 requisite for the vine, and the probability is, that 

 he will scarcely succeed once in five hundred trials. 

 The secret in this case is, to sj)lit the vine used as 

 the stock, as far down below one bud as may be 

 necessary for the wedge of the scion to be inseited 

 below that bud, and tying it there, taking care not 

 to cut off the fork-like end thus left an inch or two 

 open above the split bud, and between which the 

 scion stands with one or two buds. The v.iiole 

 then being covered, secundum artem, with prepa- 

 red clay, &c. will probably grow. Now, as this 

 method of grafting the vine has no advantage over 

 the most easy one which I shall describe below, 

 except when one wishes to have several kinds of 

 grapes on the same vine; but, on the contrary, is 

 much more difficult to perform, and nmch less 

 sure ; it is only suited for particular cases and expe- 

 riments. The mode of grafting which I practice 

 usually, and which is attended with no dilTiculty, 



and very seldom fails, is as follows : If the vine 1 

 wish to graft in, is in the place I desire to have it, 

 all I do is to take away the earth round it to the 

 depth of four or five inches, saw it ofi' (or cut it off 

 with a sharp knife, according to its size,) about 

 two or three inches below the surfiice of the ground. 

 (This dej)th may be regulated by the length of the 

 scion used.) Split it with a knife or chisel; and 

 having tapered the lower end of the scion in the 

 shape of a wedge, insert it in the cleft stock, so as 

 to make the bark of both coincide, (which is per- 

 haps not necessary with the vine — ) tie it with any 

 kind of string, merely to keep the scion in its 

 place ; return the earth to its place, so as to leave 

 only one bud of the graft above the ground, and 

 the other just below the surface, and it is done. 

 If I have no vine where I wish to have one, I dig 

 it out of the woods, &c. &c. ; cut it off as above 

 described ; insert the scion ; tie it and plant it where 

 wanted, leaving, as in the other case, only one bud 

 or two above the ground. All the care that it now 

 requires, is to surround it with sticks, to prevent 

 its being trampled upon, or otherwise injured, and 

 to notice the shoots that may grow below the graft, 

 that they may be immediately taken off c'ose to 

 the stock, taking care in so doing, not to move the 

 scion or graft, which might prevent its taking. 

 Such grafts usually grow as soon as the other buds 

 of the vines in its neighborhood ; but it sometimes 

 happens they are much later ; and 1 have had some 

 that did not j)ush till about June — even as late as 

 the middle of that month. These, however, did 

 very well, and grew very rapidly; and I remem- 

 lier one in ]>arti(ular, that, although it had not be- 

 gun to push before June, grew afterwards so vig- 

 orously as to cover, nearly all over, an arbor of 

 more than tv. elve feet square. The stock on which 

 this had been grafted, was a native vine, and a 

 large one, so that the whole force of its extensive 

 roots was thrown into the graft. I do not recollect 

 now, to a certainty, whether this graft had been 

 made according to the last described method, or 

 according to the following, which is the other of 

 the two I promised to describe and recommend. 

 Vv'hcn the stock, or the vine into which you wish 

 to insert a graft, is too large to be conveniently 

 split as in the last mode of grafting, as when they 

 are several inches in diameter, after having sawed 

 it two or three inches below the surface of the 

 ground, nearly horizontally, I take a gimlet, or 

 (which is best) a carpenter's stock and taper-bit, 

 and bore one or more holes, according to the size of 

 th.e stock, aliout an inch and a quarter deep. I then 

 prepare the scion, (which in this case ought to be 

 selected pretty large,) and by cutting the bark and 

 a little of the wood all round, within an inch and 

 a quarter of the lower end, fit it to the hole and 

 push it in till the shoulder of bark made by the 

 cutting, as here above described, comes down to 

 the sawed surface of the stock; and if the stock is 

 large enough to require two or three grafts, alter 

 having fitted them all in, I return the earth, leav- 

 ing only one or two buds at most above the ground, 

 as above, and the grafting is done. As this last 

 method of grafting usually succeeds as well as the 

 first, it would seem to indicate that it is not neces- 

 sary in grafting the vine, as it most undoubledly is 

 for all other fruit trees, that the bark of the stock, 

 and that of the scion or graft meet and coincide ex- 

 actly ; for in the latter case, the scions are inserted 

 in any part of the stock. 



