186 MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING 



Details of care. 



In grafting, the earth was removed from the plants to a 

 depth of two or three inches. The vines were sawed squarely 

 off below the surface of the ground. The stock was then 

 split for a cleft graft. Two cions, made as described on 

 page 46, were inserted in each cleft and tied in place 

 with waxed string. Wax was not used as it does not stick 

 in grafting grapes, because of the bleeding of the stock. 

 After setting the cion, the earth was replaced and enough 

 more of it used to cover stock and cion to prevent evaporation. 

 This method of grafting is available to those who have old 

 vineyards. It is so simple that the veriest tyro can thus 

 graft grapes. Were young plants or cuttings used as stocks, 

 some method of bench grafting would, of course, be resorted to. 



The cultivation and spraying were precisely that given na- 

 tive grapes. There has been no coddling of vines. The fungous 

 diseases which helped to destroy the vineyards and vexed the 

 souls of the old experimenters were kept in check by two 

 sprayings with bordeaux mixture; the first application was 

 made just after the fruit set, the second when the grapes were 

 two-thirds grown. Some years a third spraying with a tobacco 

 concoction was used to keep thrips in check. Phylloxera was 

 present in the vineyard but none of the varieties seemed to 

 suffer from this pest. The stocks used were not those best 

 suited either to the vines grafted on them or to resist phylloxera. 

 Unquestionably some of the standard sorts used in France and 

 California from Vitis rupestris or Vitis wlpina, or hybrids of 

 these species, would give better results. From theoretical 

 consideration, it would seem that the Vitis wlpina stocks 

 should be best suited to the needs of eastern America. 



It was thought by the old experimenters that European grapes 

 failed in New York because of unfavorable climatic condi- 

 tions. It was said that the winters were too cold and the sum- 



