lis 



New Mode of grafting the Vine. 



this communication will show the superior simplicity and per- 

 fection of the mode proposed by me : — 



" I select a scion with one eye [Jig. 34. a), and cut it into the 

 form of a wedge. For a stock, I select a shoot of the preceding 

 year, about the same thickness as the scion (or stocks of several 

 years I have found attended with equal success), and cut it over 

 a little above the second eye from the old wood 

 [b). With a sharp knife I cut it down the 

 centre nearly to the old wood. Out of each half 

 of the stock, but chiefly out of that half which is 

 opposite to the eye, or bud {b\ I pare, with a 

 penknife, as much as is necessary to make it fit 

 the cuttings on the sides of the scion. I insert 

 the scion with its eye {a) opposite to that left 

 on the top of the stock \h). I tie it up, and clay 

 it over in the usual manner ; with this difference, 

 that I cover nearly the whole of the scion with 

 the clay, leaving only a small hole for its eye. I tie a little moss 

 over the clay, upon which I sprinkle a little water occasionally, 

 to keep the whole in a moist state for some time. 



" What seems of essential importance in this mode, is the eye, 

 or young shoot {b), left on the top of the stock, which I allow 

 to grow for ten or fourteen days, and then cut it off; leaving 

 only one eye and one leaf to draw sap to the scion, till it be 

 fairly united to the stock. 



" As to the time for grafting, I find that it will succeed very 

 well when the stocks are about to break into leaf; but I think 

 there is more certainty of success when the shoots of the stock 

 into which the graft is to be inserted have made four or five 

 eyes of new wood. By this time the sap has begun to flow 

 freely, and there is no danger of the stock suffering from bleed- 

 ing : but, indeed, if vines are in good health, and thoroughly 

 ripened, there is no danger of bleeding at any time." 



As a voucher of the success of this plan, I transmitted to 

 the Glasgow Society, along with my communication, a bunch of 

 grapes, the produce of a graft which had been sent me from 

 Ii'eland in the month of February preceding ; and which, besides 

 maturing this bunch, had grown into a strong vigorous shoot, 

 about 22 ft. long, fully as well ripened as the rest of the wood 

 on the same vine. With a later communication to the London 

 Society, I sent equally splendid vouchers. But of this anon. 

 Suffice it, in the mean time, to say, that (not to speak of fruit, 

 but merely of the wood produced) Mr. M'Leish's inches of 

 success have been doubled or trebled in feet by my very worst 

 specimens. 



On comparing the two methods as to principle, it must ap- 

 pear that Mr. M'Leish has complicated and ruined his method, 



