UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. ^ 
 
 BULLETIN NO. 45. 
 
 Grafting the California Wild Vine. 
 
 [In order to render the results of investigations 
 
 that under certain circumstances of soil ana 
 climate it may be greatly retarded, or even sup- 
 pressed. But the grafts made on the Univer- 
 sity grounds on Calif arnica stocks have all 
 and experiments conducted by the Agricultural De- ' borne abundantly and early; and apart from 
 partment of the University of California more quick- many other examples of the same kind, Mr. 
 ly and more generally available than has heretofore Packard's experience in his 100-acre grafted 
 been done through the annual or biennial reports, vineyard, thrte years from the seed, is a living 
 it is proposed to embody hereafter, in the form of example, than wnioh a stronger cannot readily 
 -Bulletins," to be issued as often as may seem de- be found for other vines, 
 sirable, reports of results, as well as such other dis As to th succegg f tfa ffcg ^ 
 cussions, information or answers to questions as mav / , \ T Y> i . , » . . * 1 
 
 be of general interest. It is intended to make th J tT \ m ^ Mr - ^kard's showing of 98 p« 
 bulletins, as a rule, short enough for insertion in the , oeufc of succeases cannot be easily excelled by 
 daily or weekly papers of the State, and proof-slips jg ra *ts made on other stocks. As to the strength 
 of the same will be regularly mailed to papers apply- M the union, our experience here has beeu that 
 ing therefor. The substance of these bulletins will when well made the junction becomes imper 
 ultimately be embodied in a more complete and con- ceptible, and as strong as anv other part of the 
 nected form, in the annual reports of the College of vine. 
 
 Agriculture.] lfc ia tme that when a 8trong gr0W er is 
 
 grafted upon a weak one, there may be dilli- 
 The subjoined letter lately received from Mr. culty on account of the wtak base of a stouter 
 J. K. Packard, together with an excerpt from the trunk. But in the reverse case there ia no 
 Pomona Progress, is published as throwing light trouble, for a relatively stout base for a weak 
 on some questions that have been prominently trunk is desirable. The strong-growing Cali- 
 before the public of late, and regarding whicli foruica will, in its own home, furnish just such 
 a good many unfounded impressions prevail, a stock for all or almost all the vinifera varie- 
 ~t nas been claimed that not only the resistance ties, which it exceeds in growth whenever 
 ol the Californian and other wild American planted in appropriate soils, 
 stocks to the phylloxera has not been well The latter point is one the inattention to 
 proven, but that no perftct union between the which will doubtless explain a great many re 
 vinifera graft and the California stock is ported failures. The California vine is a rank 
 torined, and that the graft is liable to be blown feeder, and will not do well on poor or shallow 
 over at any time; and finally that if successfully soils. It has, to my personal knowledge, been 
 gratted, there is no proof that such grafts will planted on some lands on which it could hardly 
 near, or that the grapes will correspond to the be expected to live in the absence of the phyi- 
 quality ot the scion. loxera; and with a little help from the latter, 
 
 ™ the latter point, it may well be claimed it has of course proved "non-resistant." It is 
 . s an established fact that the scion determines, not claimed by anyone that the California or 
 Lnv i f CaSC V m ch , araoter of the fruit, when ny other vine cannot be killed by the phyl- 
 ment 1 • lo , dtn y this is to deny a fuuda- .>xera under such unfavorable circumstances. 
 
 demon ? Xl f 0n } 1Q horticulture, which has been I, here is a limit beyond which the addition of 
 vhin \f "jyfiaila of times for thousands of ven a straw may break the camel's back, 
 from rh d ™ renoea m *y, it is true, arise A more extended discussion of this subject 
 
 i.ir U n f7 thof the stock as corn- will be given hereafter; in the meantime it is 
 loot !hl «. gfaft whea 011 itd own greatly to be desired that all experience had in 
 
 nourUhmlnfi aS ? ^Pidity of development, jtnis matter be brought to light for critical con- 
 chmate Lto ^ the 8oi1 ' ^»ptatiou to ^deration. 
 
 differ fV*m J? T* . res P ecfc the vine does not i Berkeley, Oct. 9, 18S5. E. W. Hilgard. 
 umer rrom other fruits for whiV.K l *. 
 
 re°io k n haS t0 bd d3cert ^ by trial in each Remarkable Growth of Vines. 
 
 e As^n tw^i * Scarcely more than two years ago Mr. Pack- 
 
 to me bearing of fruit, it is well known ard purchased, in different locatious, two tracts 
 
 * of land of 170 and 80 acres, and immediately j 
 
began the improvement of the same. The trace 
 of land consisting of 170 acres is situated four 
 miles northwest of Pomona, on the San Ber- 
 nardino road, and is of the very richest soil. 
 Planting the main body of the place to vines, 
 the wild or native California grape was secured, 
 and this year grafted to Zinfandel, Burger and 
 Mataro varieties. The growth made by the 
 vines on this place is simpjy astonishing, as no 
 water whatever was used, and it is safe to as- 
 sert that 98 per cent of the grafted vines are 
 growing to day, where, if cuttings had been 
 planted scarcely one half would have lived. In 
 many cases, by actual measurement, the canes 
 are ten feet in length, and bunches of grapes 
 weighing three and a half pounds each have 
 been picked from this vineyard. From 80 acres 
 about '25 tons of grapes will be realized this sea- 
 son, and when it is taken into consideration 
 that these vines have received no water what- 
 ever, their condition proves conclusively that, 
 in the right soil, fruit can be produced without 
 irrigation. This soil is no exception; as there 
 are many hundreds of acres of land in the Po- 
 mona valley that likewise need no irrigation 
 whatever. — Pomona Progress, A ugust 20, 1S85. 
 Mr. Packard's Letter. 
 Prof. E. W. Hilgard, Berkeley, Gal. -Dear 
 Sir: Iu response to your request I now send to 
 you a copy of the Pomona Progress, giving a 
 description of the appearance of my Californica 
 vineyard. I will also make a brief memoranda 
 of the details of my method of grafting them. 
 I will here state that I grafted, last springs 
 about seventy-five thousand, and have now a 
 percentage of I033 of about two per cent of that 
 number. 
 
 First, the vines were cut off to within three 
 or four inches of the ground, and the brush 
 hauled away; second, the land was plowed, I 
 the soil being thrown from the vines; third, 
 grafting commenced February 10th, about 
 three weeks before the vines started. Foj^ 
 grafting I worked my men in sets of abouXj 
 thirteen, as follows: One man to shovel dutfr 
 from the vine; one man to saw vine at the sur & 
 face, or one inch bAow the surface of the 
 ground; three grafters — regular hands who had I 
 never put iu a graft until they commenced this J 
 job; ono man following to wax the uuion win* | 
 used a brush and wax poi; and iiually, seven ( 
 men to shovel the dirt to the vine, covering the I 
 
 graft to the top bud. All workmen, excepting 
 the grafters, were Chinamen. Each gang 
 grafted eighteen hundred to two thousand per 
 day. Varieties grafted: Burger, Zinfandel, 
 Mataro and Golden Chasselas. All have made a 
 magnificent growth. Commencing grafting Feb- 
 ruary 18th, I substantially finished three weeks 
 after that date — having something like ten thou- 
 sand remaining, which were finished up by two 
 or three men by April 1st, when the vines were in 
 leaf. I can see no material difference either in 
 percentage of loss or in growth between the 
 early and the late grafted. The method used 
 was a cleft graft for the larger vines — say all 
 larger than your little finger. For the smaller 
 ones a t jngue graft was used, and a great many 
 were grafted which were not larger than a lead- 
 pencil. I find that the latter are doing as well 
 as any of the larger ones. As a matter of ex- 
 periment, one of my men cut the top of a vine 
 off below a point where the roots branched out, 
 and inserted four Mataro grafts in as many 
 small roots. These four grafts are growing now, 
 thus proving that it is unnecessary to graft in 
 the crown. 
 
 I will mention the after work when the graft- 
 ing was finished. The field looked like a mul- 
 titude of anthills at hat time, on account of 
 the dirt throwu up to the scion. I then plowed 
 the laud crosswise, throwing the dirt to the 
 vine. Then, as soon as the union of scion and 
 vine was strong enough, I cut the vine away, 
 leaving one standard only, which I tied up. 
 The "ant-hills" were leveled down, exposing 
 the roots on the scion, which were cut off"; anc 1 , 
 as the union is at the surface, they cannot form 
 anew and the vine must be supported by the 
 Californica root alone. The misses which I 
 have, I find to be almost invariably due to the 
 fact that the Hcion was set with its sap veins 
 entirely outside of that in the root, and as a 
 matter of course, such failed to grow. I used a 
 great many lateral cuttings with an abundance 
 of pith; they all grew, however. 
 
 Of course, I used a great deal of care in keep- 
 ing my scions in the best possible condition; 
 they were never allowed to get into a position 
 where they would dry out or injure in any other 
 way. If there are any other points in regard to 
 this matter which you desire to know, I will 
 furnish them to you with pleasure. 
 
 Pomona, Oct. J, ISSo. John E. Packard.