7^ 



For gratling the Vine, the thickest and strongest lateral wood must 

 be taken ; if the cuttings are of thin twigs they will be likely to wither 

 with the sun and wind. The foot or lower part of a cross-shoot, where 

 there are two or three eyes, very close together, is the kind most 

 likely to succeed ; the wood in such a specimen is solid, fibrous, thick ; 

 and the circulation plentiful and free. These grafts must be cut before 

 hard frost, tied in bundles, and put away in a cellar or vault, or 

 under loose earth. 



There are several kinds of grafting used for Vines; shoulder-graft- 

 ing succeeds well on old stocks ; so does budding, or insertion ; but 

 the most common are slit-grafting and tongue-grafting : latterly es- 

 cutcheon-grafting has been much used in spring before the ascent of 

 the sap. Grafting by approach also will succeed ; but the most favor- 

 able of all methods is crown-grafting on the root. 



Grafting on the root is the best of all ; but I should first remark, 

 that in some circumstances, grafting should be performed on the stock ; 

 for instance, when it is wanted to have from one plant that is thriving, 

 others of the same kind by layering, to fill up empty spots. The sci- 

 ons to be used in grafting, are to be cut before the sap ascends into 

 them. It is best to gather them in the fall, and bury them for six 

 inches of their length into loose mould, secure from frosts, and the 

 earth be dampened sufiiciently to prevent them from drying away. 

 The same precaution must be used with cross-branches cut in the 

 spring, before the ascent of the sap. But the best time for gathering 

 the grafts is just after the fall of the leaf. A vine-dresser with proper 

 foresight should always have such in reserve, that they may be ready 

 in the spring if wanted. If no grafts are needed, these same scions 

 can be planted out to take root, and provide nurseries of slips. 



The graft should comprise both yearling and two year old wood ; 

 the former should be 8 or 9 inches in length, and the latter, which is 

 to form the wedge to be inserted in the root, should be 3 or 4 inches 

 in length. 



Before undertaking the operation , the Vine should be allowed to 

 exhaust the first access of the sap, which is so overflowingly abundant 

 in the first fine spring weather ; because it is rather distilled water 

 than juice, and the quantity would be likely to drown the grafts. It 

 is therefore more prudent to wait, as is commonly expressed, until the 

 Vine has done weeping, at which time the buds are so far evolved as 

 to show the leaves. The/ sap has then acquired a consistence sufii- 

 cient to agglutinate the graft to the incision, and the grafts having' 

 been cut before the rise of the sap, will not have budded, and will be 

 the more ready to suck the sap and set in moticn the circulation that 

 is to cement them to the Vine. 



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