proceedings of the farmers* club. 199 



Grafting Grape Vines. 



The following letter from J. R. Garber, Columbia, Pa., read by Solon 

 Robinson, attracted the most marked attention of all present : 



As I have been doing something in the way of grafting the grape under 

 ground, and with pretty fair success, I will try and give my plan of opera- 

 tion, for the benefit of "Avhom it may concern." 



" I prefer to graft the vine before the sap flows, as early in the spring as 

 the frost is out and the ground is dry enough to remove from the roots, or 

 to delay it until the vines are in full leaf and flower. Either plan is equally 

 sure. From the last of February to the end of March, as the seasons are 

 early or late, or from last of May to last of June. I have, however, grafted 

 when the sap was flowing freely, and had' the grafts grow. However, as 

 the most certain, I prefer the earlier season — say two or three weeks before 

 the sap starts — for this reason, that the grafts have a longer season to 

 grow, and also from the difficulty of keeping the grafts in good condition 

 so late; either they will push or they will become too dry. 



"As to the 'great success of a certain man in Pennsylvania, who set 

 Delaware grafts in Isabella and Catawaba layers by splitting them with a 

 chisel and inserting the grafts in wedge form,' I have no certain knowledge, 

 but presume him to be the same person who, a few years since, offered 

 ' cart loads of Delaware wood to the public from original vines, simply for 

 the cost of cutting, &c.' I would not have sufficient confidence even to try 

 that plan; and as to keeping the earth from the grafts, it would, I believe, 

 to be a pretty effectual plan to prevent their growth. 



"I proceed as follows : Early in March, or as soon as the ground is free 

 from frost and pretty dry — at least two weeks before the sap flows — I cut 

 off" the stocks three or four inches under the surface, or, if the roots are 

 from one fourth to half an inch in diameter, cut them off, and graft three, 

 four or half a dozen roots on one shoot. I simply split the stock or roots, 

 as in grafting any other tree, stick in the graft, cut in form of a wedge, tie 

 the stock with strong bass or other material to keep the stock from opening, 

 fill in the earth level with the top eye on graft, stick a stock alongside the 

 graft, then mulch over the whole with refuse hay, potato-vines or anything 

 on hand. I use no wax, believing it to do more harm than good. 



"I frequently keep the cuttings in slightly damp earth or sand till May, 

 and even late in June, and then perform the operation as before. They 

 grow equally as well, but the reason stated above, the early season is'pre- 

 ferable. One graft set 25th June made 20 feet of ripe wood by fall 1 



"Two years since, spring of 1862, Mr. Rogers of Salem, Mass., sent me 

 cuttings of sixteen of his best varieties, to be tested in this locality, Lan- 

 caster county, Pa. I grafted all of tliem on seedling stocks; fifteen of them 

 grew, and thirteen bore fruit in 1863. One failure was owing to the root 

 dying; your grafts on one stool made over one hundred feet of wood the first 

 season, and many single grafts made from ten to fifty feet of wood. This 

 season some of them bore from two to two dozen bunches of fruit on one 

 graft, or on one stool. 



"During the spring and summer of 1862 I grafted twenty-eight varie- 

 ties; all but two are now fine large plants; most of them bore fruit this 



