—Only little manual cultivation is needed. In the spring, after the first plowing and before the buds have started or have grown long enough to interfere with the work, the vines should be hoed. The object of hoeing is to loosen the soil nearest the vines, and to destroy all the weeds which cannot be turned under by the plow, and especially those which grow close to the vines. The best tool for this purpose is the common, heavy hoe with a long handle. A very useful hoe can be made of old shovels which are so worn and broken that they cannot be longer used for digging. The blade of the shovel is fixed to a new handle at a right angle, similar to a hoe handle, while the blade itself is left as it is. Such hoes are very useful in cutting heavy weeds, and work with great facility. Forked hoes are used by many vineyardmen, especially for stirring the hardened crust around the vine, but I believe the common, heavy hoe a more useful instrument, and if used in time will make the forked hoe unnecessary.
Time for Cultivation.
—Too early plowing or cultivation before the weeds have started is not always desirable, as it prevents the weeds from growing. Such weeds, if turned under, will yearly enrich the land, and in course of time form a heavy and humus-rich top soil, which will serve to keep the moisture in the soil below. I therefore advocate plowing as late as possible. The exact time must be decided for every particular season and for every separate locality, and no general rule can be given. Wet lands should be plowed earlier than dry lands; it is the latter which especially require the green weeds to be turned under, and which will be the most benefited by the accumulation of humus. Our vineyardists disregard this fact too much, and are generally too apt to plow their dryest lands first.
GRAFTING THE MUSCAT ON OTHER STOCKS.
Time for Grafting Raisin-vines.
—The best time for grafting grapevines, as well as for grafting anything else, is when the stock on which we graft has its sap in circulation, and when the scions or cuttings which we are to insert in the stock are yet dormant. This time occurs from the middle of January, when the sap first rises in the old vine, and continues to March or even April, February and March being generally the months best suited to the work. Grafting may also be done in the fall of the year after the grape crop has been gathered, while some growers have best succeeded still earlier, and advocate the month of August as being the most favorable time for this process. The sap at that time ceases flowing, and there is no danger of its being clogged. Grapevines can be grafted at almost any time of the year at which the weather is not too warm, as this will cause the cuttings to bud out before they have joined the stock. If grafting on resistant stocks is desired, the stocks, if small, must first be dug, and the grafting can then be performed in the workshop any time between December and March, the early winter months being preferable.
Points to be Observed in Grafting.
—The main object in grafting is to properly join the scions and the stock. The point of junction should be the cambium layer, or what is commonly called the inner bark. If a cutting of a vine is cut off smoothly and placed in the ground, the callus soon begins to form at the lower end. This callus, which is seen to exude from the green layer between the hard wood and the bark, is fed by the sap in the cutting descending through the cambium layer and forming new cells at its free end. If this callus joins a similar callus of the cambium or green layer of the stock, the two calluses unite and form together a new vine, in which the top consists of the new scion and the root of the old vine. The junction of the two is the place where the cambium surface of the scion met the cambium of the stock. In the scions, the cambium lies very close to the exterior layer of the cutting, the bark here being very thin, while in the old stock the cambium is situated many times deeper in, the outer layer or the bark being very thick. It is not necessary that the cambium layers of the two should meet or join all along the cut surface, and a few points of contact and junction is sufficient, although it is better to have as large a junction surface as possible. If the two cambium layers do not meet, the scion will not grow, or, as it is called, take. The scions must be dormant when being grafted, and, if their buds have begun to swell, they will probably not take, or at least success is less certain. In order to keep them dormant they should be cut early in winter, and then be buried in cool and only slightly moist earth, either in a cellar or on the north side of a house, where the sun and heat will not strike them and cause them to start their buds. If the callus should form, or even root, the callus and roots may be cut away without great injury to the cuttings. If the cuttings are dry, they should be soaked for a few hours in tepid water, and afterwards buried in moist sand. This treatment is often useful for imported cuttings which have been injured in transit. They often recover vigor wonderfully fast, and should never be given up for lost as long as there is any green-colored cambium left, in which the sap may again be brought into circulation.
Various Methods of Grafting.
—The general way to graft is to graft on old stocks. Vines of one variety are thus changed into the variety we wish to grow, and from which the scions are taken. The first step is to dig away the soil from the vines down to the first roots, which should be done by a separate gang of men. Next the stocks are sawed off horizontally at the first roots, or say from four to six inches below the surface of the soil. This should also be done by separate hands so as to insure rapidity and skill in the work. Some grafters saw off the stocks somewhat slanting, so as to cause them to shed the sap which always exudes from the stump. Next in order comes the splitting of the wood of the stock and the insertion of the grafts. This requires care and skill, and should not be done by careless hands.