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LXXVIII. On Grafting the Vine. By Thomas Andrew 

 Knight, Esq. F. R. S. $c. President. 



Read September 18, 1821. 



Th e practice of grafting the Vine appears to be very an- 

 cient; for it is mentioned both by Cato and Columella,* 

 in a way which shews that it was common in the vineyards 

 of Italy at the period in which they wrote. It must, conse- 

 quently, have been an operation of easy execution, though it 

 is rarely seen to succeed well in the hands of the modern gar- 

 dener ; who is, nevertheless, certainly much better provided 

 with instruments, and can scarcely be supposed to be inferior 

 in skill, or science, to the cultivators of that period. It is, 

 therefore, probable, that the ancients were acquainted with 

 some mode of operating, of which the modern gardener is 

 ignorant. It is well known that the ancients, in propagating 

 the Vine, employed cuttings which consisted partly of year- 

 old, and partly of two years old wood ; and the modern gar- 

 dener, in deviating from this mode of practice, has adopted 

 one which does not possess a single advantage, and which is 

 in every respect worse. I conceived it probable, in the last 

 spring, that the success of the Roman cultivators, in grafting 

 their Vines, might have arisen from the selection of grafts 

 similar to their cuttings ; and the result of the following ex- 



• Cato, cap. 42 ; Columella, lib. iv. c. 29. 

 VOL. IV. 3 S 



