74 THE HOME ACRE. 



replacing the Brighton with a variety twice as 

 good when it is developed. Thus vine-planting 

 and grape-tasting stretch away into an alluring 

 and endless vista. 



When such exchanges are made, we do not 

 recommend the grafting of a new favorite on an 

 old vine. This is a pretty operation when one has 

 the taste and leisure for it, and a new, high-priced 

 variety can sometimes be obtained speedily and 

 cheaply in this way. Usually, however, new kinds 

 soon drop down within the means of almost any 

 purchaser, and there are advantages in having 

 each variety growing upon its own root. Nature 

 yields to the skill of the careful gardener, and per- 

 mits the insertion of one distinct variety of fruit up- 

 on another ; but with the vine she does not favor 

 this method of propagation and change, as in the 

 case of pears and apples, where the graft forms a 

 close, tenacious union with the stock in which it is 

 placed. Mr. Fuller writes : " On account of the 

 peculiar structure of the wood of the vine, a last- 

 ing union is seldom obtained when grafted above- 

 ground, and is far from being certain even when 

 grafted below the surface, by the ordinary method." 

 The vine is increased so readily by easy and nat- 

 ural methods, to be explained hereafter, that he 

 who desires nothing more than to secure a good 

 supply of grapes for the table can dismiss the 



