PROPAGATION OF THE VINE. 193 



wliicli retains the scion in its proper place. The 

 best season for grafting the vine is just when the 

 warmth of spring sets the sap in motion, and it should 

 be performed when the sky is cloudj, with the wind 

 blowing from the southeast or southwest. Whenever 

 a northerly wind or great drought prevails, it is 

 better to delay the operation ; a burning sun or cold 

 wind would arrest the course of the sap by drying np 

 the vessels at the point of union. JSTeither is it 

 advisable to graft in rainy weather, because the 

 water will trickle down into the incision, and pre- 

 vent the union between the scion and stock. The 

 best time for taking oif the grafts is in a dry day 

 toward the end of autumn, when the sap is still. 

 They should be cut off with a portion of the old wood 

 adhering, which wdll assist in preserving them until 

 wanted for nse. They should be plunged two or 

 three inches deep in damp sand, and kept in a cool 

 cellar, where neither heat nor frost can penetrate. 

 Twenty-four hours previously to being used, they 

 should be taken up, and that part which had before 

 been in the sand should be laid in water." 



He, moreover, states that " the vine is thus grafted 

 with so much facility, and the union between scion 

 and stock is so perfect, that no plant appears more 

 adapted for this mode of propagation." 



"We have never met with an example of budding 

 9 



