170 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWIXG 



No. 12 or 14 steel wire 165 feet long, and put on it a drop 

 of solder every G'/^ feet, beginning fifteen inches from 

 one end, which serves to make a loop for an iron pin 18 

 inches long, to stick in the ground to hold the chain. 

 Square the ground, chain along one side, setting a small 

 peg or stake at each drop on the chain, then stretch the 

 chain at right angles across the end, and chain back from 

 the other end of the chain, setting a i^eg at each droj^ as 

 before, which marks out one block. Now stretch the 

 chain across the block, and plant 24 rows, leaving the 

 rows of pegs for avenues. Make a dibble out of a piece 

 of ly^ inch gas pipe, by welding and sharpening one end 

 and putting a pin near the other for the hands and one 

 for the foot. Make a hole with this and insert the cutting 

 and tighten it by shoving the dibble down by one side and 

 pressing the ground against it. I use cuttings 16 inches 

 long, leaving two buds above the surface. If rooted 

 \ines are used, cut the roots back close to the stock. We 

 set about 500 per day to the man, and 1,000 to the acre. 

 From four to eight men work on a chain, and we can 

 work from two to four chains or gangs on a block. This 

 plan is very simple, speedy, and accurate, and any kind 

 of help can do the work correctly ; it is equally well 

 adapted to planting small fruits and trees after the holes 

 are dug. We usually plant the last of March and first 

 of April ; the loss is from 5 to 10 per cent. 



Among the various methods of grafting, I have had the 

 best success by sawing off the vine from 4 to 6 inches 

 below the surface of the ground, making a clean cut with 

 a razor a little diagonally, and inserting one or two scions, 

 covering the cleft or cut with a piece of cloth, and filling 

 up with fine earth. The graft must be staked and kept 

 well tied up the first season, and a fair crop of grapes 

 may be expected the next. Grafting should be done here 

 in February and March. Two men can graft about 100 

 vines per day. 



