CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 85 



the scion. He terms this delay the great secret of suc- 

 cess. In the humid climate of England, this plan may 

 succeed; but, under our hot and drying sun, the scion 

 will generally perish, unless kept cool by being almost 

 entirely under Aground. Now, the recommendation to 

 wait until the vine is under a full flow of sap, and then 

 at a blow to remove every vestige of foliage, and substi- 

 tute a dormant scion in its place, is doing violence to 

 every principle in the theory of horticulture. Such a 

 sudden check to the sap must inevitably result in great 

 injury to the stock. A much more judicious method 

 would be to remove a considerable proportion of the 

 shoots of the parent stock, and, after drawing away the 

 soil at the root, to apply the scion in some one of the va- 

 rious forms of whip-grafting. But it is always difficult to 

 apply the scion exactly, and bind it sufficiently firm so 

 near the surface ; and it is not probable that the plan 

 will be adopted to any considerable extent. 



As has been intimated, the great difficulty in grafting 

 the grape lies in the abundant flow of sap from every 

 spring cut. In "The Horticulturist," vol. i. p. 515, Mr. 

 Robert Nelson communicates his practice of autumn 

 grafting of the roots of various trees and shrubs, which 

 he adopted with great success in the fall of 1836. The 



