34 Planting. 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



Grafting. 



so-called extra large layers "for iinmediate 

 bearing" are a humbug. 



There is. however, one method of propagat- 

 ing the grape, namely, by Grafts, which 

 belongs more properly to the sphere of the 

 cultivator, the vine3'ardist, than the nursery- 

 man or propagator, and which presents itself 

 under aspects almost entirely new. 



GRAFTING. 



Grafting the grape-vine is now practiced 

 on a gigantic scale in Europe, where the con- 

 tinued inroads of the Phylloxera have carried 

 devastation and destruction over an immense 

 area of vineyards, once thrifty and blooming. 

 Many methods have been tried ; untold sums 

 of money have been expended in vain attempts 

 to check the march of this terrible enemy of 

 the European grape ; but, alas ! these at- 

 tempts have practically proved to be failures. 

 By the application and continued use of 

 chemical insecticides some vineyards have 

 been kept up in a state of comparative health 

 and productiveness ; but, unfortunately, the 

 cost of these annual applications is to high 

 for general use, and can only be afforded by 

 the proprietors of the most renowned vine- 

 yards, the "grand cms," whose products 

 command such extraordinary prices as to 

 cover the extraordinary expenses of preserv- 

 ing them by this means. Vineyards which 

 can be entirely submerged in water every 

 winter, for a period of at least fifty da3's, can 

 also be maintained in spite of the Phylloxera. 

 And, finally, vines planted in soil containing 

 at least 60 per cent, of pure sand (silica) 

 offer also a comparative resistance to the 

 insect. 



These three means of maintaining the Eu- 

 ropean grape in spite of the Phylloxera apply 

 themselves only in such exceptional cases, 

 however, that European grape culture would 

 be doomed to an almost entire destruction 

 were it not for the American vine coming to 

 the aid of its European sister. The Ameri- 

 can vine, with its strong, robust system, and 

 its tough, vigorous root, resists the Phyl- 

 loxera, and by lending its root to the Eu- 

 ropean vine makes the reconstruction of the 

 devastated vineyards possible. 



When the second edition of our catalogue 

 was published (1875) this maUer was still a 

 problem, and many then doubted whether the 

 solution, positivel^^ and practicall3^ would be 

 a satisfactory one. This problem has been 

 solved, and it is placed beyond all doubt that 

 the use of the American resistant vine as a 

 grafting stock for the European grape (V. 

 Vinifera) is the true solution of the Phyl- 

 loxera question for the European vintner — 

 that solution which alone has been found 



generally applicable, generallj- practical, and 

 generally satisfactory. 



Millions of vines are now grafted in Europe 

 every spring, some on simple cuttings, some 

 on nursery plants, and others in vinej^ard 

 plantations ; but in all cases the grafting 

 stock is of American descent. The stocks 

 most generally employed for this pur- 

 pose are types of our wild Vitis Miparia, 

 which probabl}" constitutes four-fifths of the 

 grafting stocks emploj'ed, having been found 

 to adapt themselves to nearlj^ all kinds of 

 soils and exposures, and uniting the greatest 

 powers of resistance to the insect with a 

 remarkable facilit}^ of rooting from cuttings 

 and of receiving the graft of the V. Vinifera. 



We will be pardoned for mentioning here 

 with a certain degree of pride and satisfac- 

 tion, that we were ihejirst to recommend and 

 to bring this valuable grafting stock to the 

 notice of the French grape-growers (in Dec, 

 1875) and to place it in their hands in suf- 

 ficient quantities to test its merits, which 

 merits they soon learned to appreciate. Since 

 then the French vintners have propagated 

 and increased the stock in a wonderful 

 degree, the single Department of Herault 

 alone furnished many millions of plants and i 

 cuttings of Riparia, all to be grafted with » 

 the European grape. 



The results obtained by grafting the T'. 

 Vinifera on American roots have generall}'- 

 been found so satisfactory, not only as the 

 means of resisting the Phylloxera, but also 

 as imparting greater vigor and productiveness 

 to the European grape, that the practice of 

 grafting on American stocks would probably 

 be continued even if the dreaded Phylloxera 

 were to suddenly and entirely disappear. 

 Unfortunately, the very reverse, the increase 

 and spread of the insect, is far more probable ; 

 and the sooner those grape-growers of south- 

 ern Europe whose territor}^ is not 3'et infested 

 by this scourge reconcile themselves to the 

 idea of reconstructing their precious but 

 doomed vine^'ards hy the means of grafting 

 on American Phylloxera-resisting stocks, the 

 better it will be for them. 



Since the foregoing, from our last edition 

 was written, more than ten j^ears have elapsed 

 and the experience of the ju'esent day finds 

 the expectations then expressed fully veri- 

 fied. Thousands, yes, hundred thousands of 

 acres of Phjdloxera destroyed vine^'ards 

 have been reconstituted by grafting on 

 American roots, and are to-day a^ain in full 

 vigor and productiveness. The great grape 

 industry of southern Europe which twenty 

 years ago was threatened almost to destruc- 

 tion has not only recovered, but is again, as 

 of yore, a most important factor in the 



