GRAFTING. 91 



. BEST TIME FOR GRAFTING. 



After the graft is made it must knit as quickly as possible, 

 therefore it should always be performed during the period 

 of vegetation, that is to say, in spring. However, autumn 

 grafts have often been recommended ; these give more time 

 to perform the operation, and enable vine-growers to employ 

 fewer operators. These grafts give excellent results in 

 certain years when growth lasts long enough to allow the 

 knitting to take place before winter. They have also 

 resulted in dismal failures in years of early frosts or 

 abundant rains. We must not forget that grafts remaining 

 a long time before knitting are exposed to various dangers. 

 The tissues left bare dry away, and other deterioration 

 capable of preventing the knitting takes place. Further, 

 spring frosts may destroy the young buds or suddenly 

 arrest the growth, causing grafts to die. It is therefore in 

 spring, from the middle of March to the end of May (about 

 September to November in Victoria) that circumstances are 

 most favorable. 



Dull weather with slight showers preventing the desicca- 

 tion of the scion, but not checking its evolution through 

 excessive humidity, should be preferred, when possible. Dry 

 north winds or abundant and continuous rains are, on the 

 contrary, unfavorable conditions. 



4TH. DIFFERENT METHODS USED. 



Vines may be grafted by all systems used for other woody 

 plants, but a few only give practical results. We shall 

 rapidly survey the different methods recommended, only 

 describing in detail those which have proved successful and 

 are generally adopted. 



In France grafts made on lignifiecl wood are practically 

 alone used ; experience has proved that if they are made 

 above ground they do not succeed on account of the rapid 

 desiccation of the sections exposed to the air. Underground 

 grafts have therefore been almost exclusively adopted. 



It has also been proved that grafts by approach generally 

 give more vigorous plants and more perfect knitting. We 

 will therefore study the different methods of cleft grafting, 

 the most used being : (a) Ordinary cleft graft ; (b) Eng- 

 lish cleft graft; (c) Whip-tongue graft; (d) Side cleft 



