300 Grafting the Grape Vine. 



Art. III. Grafting the Grape Vine. By James Camak, 

 Esq., Athens, Ga. 



In the Magazine of Horticulture for June. (Vol. IX., p. 

 233,) there is a brief article on " Grafting Grape Vines." 

 The writer says, that instead of removing an old vine to 

 make room for another, "afar better way is to select a 

 shoot, as low as possible on the old vine, and to inarch it 

 with another kind from a pot or from a neighboring plant." 



There is another mode, described as Mr. Donald's. It 

 is particularly described by Mr. Loudon, in his Suhurbaii 

 Horticulturist, page 291, fig. 205. But it requires, as the 

 one just mentioned does, great care in selecting the stock, 

 and the time for the operation ; as well as in fitting thie bud 

 of the scion, so as to be opposite to, and above a bud on 

 the stock, &c., &c. 



These modes both require a degree of nicety and exact- 

 ness in the manipulation, and an amount of trouble that 

 we are not to expect to find any one willing to encounter, 

 except professional gardeners or practical amateurs ; and, 

 to these circumstances, and the length of time required to 

 rear a vine from a cutting in the ordinary way, we must 

 attribute the fact that this most wholesome and delicious 

 fruit has not been more extensively cultivated in the United 

 States. Something, no doubt, is also due to the fact, that 

 the blast, or rot, has been so fatal, especially to the Euro- 

 pean varieties that have been introduced and tried. All 

 these impediments, 1 think, can be removed. 



As to grafting ; — nothing is more simple if the right 

 mode be adopted. Cut off the old vine below the surface 

 of the earth, after the leaves are fully expanded, and all 

 danger of bleeding is past. Split the stock as in cleft 

 grafting. Insert the scion, consisting of one year old wood, 

 and having two or three buds, having first cut the end to 

 be inserted in a wedge-like shape. If the stock close firmly 

 on the scion, tieing is unnecessary. If it do not close 

 firmly, then it must be bound up tight. Draw the earth 

 up around the whole, leaving the bud mainly depended on, 

 usually, the second from the top, just even with tlie sur- 

 face, and the work is done. The after management con- 



