THE GRAPE VINE. 



599 



air before the middle of July, we have no reason 

 to suppose that cuttings root any earlier, if so 

 soon. If vines are to be propagated in this way 

 (but for which we see no good reason), then we 

 say let them have the comfortable accommoda- 

 tion of a slight bottom-heat, and be covered 

 with a frame and glass lights. 



Relative merits of propagating the vine by long 

 cuttings, layers, and single eyes. — Hayward, in 

 estimating the merits of these modes of propa- 

 gating the vine, after approving of the single-eye 

 method, remarks, in " Science of Horticulture," 

 p. 187: " When cuttings are planted, of 10 or 12 

 inches in length, in the usual way, they remain 

 a year or two before a quantity of sap is sup- 

 plied, and consequently the old bark and ves- 

 sels become fixed; and notwithstanding they 

 may throw out some strong shoots after this 

 time, when taken up for transplanting the roots 

 are unavoidably reduced, and the supply of sap 

 again lessened, and the vessels contracted. And 

 when plants are raised as layers, in pots or in 

 borders, they are suffered to remain connected 

 with the parent plant a long time after they 

 strike root, and being thus nurtured by both 

 furnish very strong branches ; but these, on 

 being separated from the old branch, are thereby 

 deprived of half their supply of sap, and in con- 

 sequence the vessels contract, become inflex- 

 ible, and incapable of extension like cuttings. 

 When plants are raised from a single eye, the 

 roots form immediately around the eye, and the 

 young stem striking directly from them is with- 

 out old bark or old vessels, and being raised in 

 a pot, is readily turned out with all its roots 

 entire and uninjured, and immediately takes to 

 the soil; the shoot extends in proportion to the 

 sap supplied, and, thus proceeding unchecked, 

 will, the first year after transplanting, often form 

 a shoot strong enough to produce fruit the fol- 

 lowing year ; whilst the strongest plant that 

 may be raised from a layer or cutting in the usual 

 manner will not produce a shoot of half the 

 strength the first year, and is seldom in a state 

 to produce fruit in a shorter time than three 

 years." In confirmation of these views, we find 

 most gardeners giving a decided preference to 

 plants originated from single eyes, and all those 

 who force the vine in pots entertain a similar 

 opinion. 



Propagating by grafting or inarching. — The 

 one of these operations is just a slight modifica- 

 tion of the other, and is seldom had recourse to 

 in the case of the vine, unless when it may be 

 desirable to prove the quality of a seedling of 

 promising appearance, which may, by being 

 grafted or inarched on an established plant, pro- 

 duce fruit sooner and in greater perfection ; or 

 where, as is often the case, some worthless sort 

 is planted, and it is desirable to substitute it 

 by another, which otherwise could only be done 

 by planting: this is not always convenient, nor 

 is it proper to plant a young vine in a bor- 

 der already crowded by the roots of others. It 

 is sometimes, however, practised in cold late 

 soils, in which some of the more delicate kinds 

 do not prosper. In such cases they may be 

 advantageously grafted on some of the hardier 

 sorts that are established. But even in this 



case it would be better to prepare the border 

 properly for them, by vaulting, heating, cover- 

 ing, or any of the many ways elsewhere pointed 

 out. This is an operation that can only with 

 propriety be accomplished when the trees are in 

 foliage and the sap in circulation. At other 

 times the incision would cause the vine to bleed 

 to the extent of preventing the necessary ad- 

 hesion taking place between the stock and scion. 

 Grafting the vine, although practised in the days 

 of Speechley, remained little understood until 

 the late T. A. Knight explained the rationale, 

 and exemplified various modes in practice. He 

 selected his scions having one joint of the pre- 

 vious year's wood at their base ; these he fitted 

 to branches of nearly the same size but of older 

 growth, and employed clay in so damp a state 

 that its moisture supplied the scion with nourish- 

 ment until adhesion had taken place. The 

 scions used by Mr Knight had about 2 inches of 

 old wood and 5 inches of young wood, by which 

 means the junction of the new and old wood, at 

 which point cuttings most readily emit shoots 

 and receive nutriment, was placed close to the 

 head of the stock, and a single bud only was 

 exposed to vegetate. Speechley preferred cleft- 

 grafting when the stock did not exceed 1 inch 

 in diameter, and whip-grafting when of a larger 

 size. Gowan, in " Gardeners' Gazette," recom- 

 mends wedge-grafting, and selects his scion with 

 one eye, which he forms in shape of a wedge. 

 The stock he prefers is a shoot of the previous 

 year's growth, and nearly of the same size as the 

 scion, and this he cuts over a little above the 

 second eye from the old wood, and slits down 

 nearly the whole length of the young wood. 

 He then pares with a penknife as much as is 

 necessary of that half of the stock which is op- 

 posite to the eye or bud as to make it fit ex- 

 actly the sides of the scion. The scion is then 

 inserted, with its eye opposite to that left on the 

 side of the stock ; it is then tied up and clayed 

 in the usual manner, only covering the whole 

 with clay, excepting just immediately over the 

 eye. Hovey, in u Magazine of Horticulture," an 

 American publication of great merit, recom- 

 mends heading the stock over, below the sur- 

 face of the ground, in autumn or late in spring, 

 after the sap-leaves are fully expanded. He 

 inserts the scion as in cleft-grafting, but where 

 the stock is sufficiently large he places a graft 

 on each side in order to avoid accident; and 

 when they are bound round, he draws the soil 

 around the whole, leaving the top bud of the 

 scion just even with the surface. 



Braddick adopted whip-grafting with great 

 success, using cuttings of the previous year, and 

 choosing that state of the vine when the sap 

 ceases to flow thinly and rapidly. His success 

 in this case led him to suppose that vines might 

 be grafted with certainty by employing the 

 young wood of the preceding year's growth from 

 the time the shoots of the stocks had made four 

 or five eyes until midsummer. " He also found 

 that vines growing on the open walls might be 

 grafted with shoots of the same summer's 

 growth, worked into the rind of the young wood, 

 from the time that young bunches of grapes 

 become visible until July, while those under 



