304 Notes and Gleanings. 



Graftixg Old Grape-Vines. — The question is often asked, whether old 

 grape-vines cannot be grafted over with some of the new and important sorts. 

 Our answer is, They can. We much prefer planting young roots of the kinds 

 we want ; but old vines can be regrafted. 



We have performed the operation several times, though not always with suc- 

 cess. Our failures have arisen from such causes as these: i. Trying to graft 

 such heavy-grained, rank growers as the Diana and Concord on such fine-grained 

 sorts as the Clinton. 2. Allowing the graft to be exposed to the sun and wind 

 after the operation has been performed. 3. Permitting suckers to shoot up in 

 excess around the base of the stock. Let experimenters bear these things in 

 mind, and then go ahead. 



The work may be done early in the spring, or in June and early July. The 

 latter period is preferable, because then the first rush of the crude sap is over, 

 and it has become thicker, and better fitted to form granulations around the scion. 

 The scion forms a callus better, and little bleeding of the stump will occur. The 

 scions, having been kept dormant till this time in a cool cellar, are now to be 

 prepared for insertion. Remove the soil several inches deep around the roots 

 of the old vine, and saw off the stock just below the surface of the ground. If 

 the stock is more than an inch in diameter, two scions may be inserted, accord- 

 ing to the usual cleft mode. Of course, much care should be taken in fitting 

 the parts of scion and stock together. Leave only one bud on each scion. Tie 

 up the stock firmly with bass-matting to prevent the parts from springing open 

 afterwards. It will not usually be needful to cover with grafting-wax. Draw 

 the earth back around the stump, and shade the same partially for a month or 

 two. If suckers appear, keep down all but one, which will serve to draw sap 

 up into the stock, and help to form granulation. When the scion has grown a 

 foot or more, it should be carefully tied up to a stake to prevent its breaking 

 off by the wind. In the course of a year, roots will probably push out at the 

 base of the scion ; but, if they do not, the new cane should be layered, and thus 

 an entirely new vine will be secured. — Rural American. 



[It is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance which grafting the vuie 

 possesses in the eyes of an amateur or experimenter. We have seen growths 

 so prodigious and incredible made by single eyes grafted into vigorous native 

 stocks, that we regret that failure rather than success should be the rule. An 

 amateur who has only one bud of a new variety, and who succeeds in making it 

 take on a native stock, will get a splendid cane the first season, and almost al- 

 ways some fruit the second ; while, on the other hand, if he started the bud in 

 a hot-bed or propagating-house, he would get only a small vine at best, and, as 

 likely as not, no fruit until the third or fourth year. 



If grape-vines could be grafted as easily as apple-trees, we think it would 

 be perfecdy feasible to raise grape-stocks in nursery-rows, and graft them when 

 two years old with slender and slow-growing kinds like the Delaware, and thus 

 attain excellent results. We have budded the vine with some success ; but our 

 attempts at grafting have generally failed. — Ed.'\ 



