Preparation of the Scions.-Proper care of the scions is necessary for the best results. If the cuttings have been made and kept properly, they will show, on being cut, clear greenish white wood, green inner bark, and firm, dry, light-brown pith. If the pith is black or watersoaked, the wood streaked or spotted with black, or the bark loose or brownish, the cuttings have been injured by too much moisture or they were poor cuttings to commence with, and should not be used.

A cutting which is too dry is harder to detect by its appearance. If suspected of being too dry, they may be tested by placing 2 or 3 short pieces of 2 or 3 buds in moist sand in a warm room. If in a week, they do not show signs of life by the starting of the roots at the bottom or the swelling of the buds, they are unsafe to use.

Twenty-four hours before they are needed, the cuttings should be taken out of the sand in which they have been stored and washed to remove all particles of sand which would blunt the grafting knife. They should then stand in fresh water for 1 or 2 days, but not more, until used.

Method of Operating. The first thing to do is to clear away the earth from around the base of the vine, making a pit about 2 feet in diameter and 2 to 3 inches deeper than the level at which the grafting is to be done. The earth should be well cleaned off the stem of the vine and the rough dry bark removed (see A, fig. 2). The vine is then ready for decapitation. This is done by sawing horizontally in such a place that about 2 inches of smooth, straight grain are left at the top (See S, fig. 2). If the sawing is done at or too near a place where the grain of the wood is crooked or curly, great difficulty will be found by the grafter in making a good fit.

After leaving the decapitated vine about 24 hours to bleed, it is ready for the insertion of the scion. If the vines are 111⁄2 inches in diameter or less, one scion to each vine is sufficient. An attempt to put in more will usually result in having 2 badly fitting grafts in place of 1 good graft. For larger vines, 2 scions are preferable whenever they can both be made to fit securely. If both of these scions grow, the weaker is removed at the next pruning. In making the cleft, a place should be chosen where the bark is smooth, straight and sound. The cleft should be made by splitting, not by cutting. First place the edge of the knife or grafting tool on the part of the sawed surface where the cleft is to be made, and which has been previously cleaned and smoothed with the grafting knife. With a slight blow of the wooden mallet the edge is driven about 1 of an inch into both wood and bark (See C, fig. 2). The object of the mark thus made is to insure that the bark and the wood split at the same place. The chisel

or the chisel end of the grafting tool is then placed on the mark sufficiently far from the bark to allow of the insertion of the scion and then driven in an inch or so, sufficient to open a cleft wide enough to allow the entrance of the scion (See D, fig. 2). The opening of the cleft is accomplished by pressing the chisel sideways. The scion is inserted and then, when the chisel is released and removed, the tension of the wood will hold the scion firmly in place (See E, fig. 2).

The cleft, whenever possible, should not extend quite across the vine. If the cleft extends only part way, it will close up more completely and hold the scion more firmly. With small vines, it is often impossible to avoid splitting quite across, and it may then be necessary to tie the scion in by putting 2 or 3 turns of thin string or raffia around the stock. With large vines, the pressure is occasionally too great, and sufficient to crush the scion. This is obviated by placing a small wedge of wood immediately behind the scion.

Shaping the Scions.-The scion is cut in the ordinary wedge form, a little thicker on the side which comes nearest to the bark. The length of the wedge depends on the character and size of the cleft in the stock. The wedge will usually be long and tapering. It is inserted in such a way that the line between the bark and wood coincide with the corresponding line on the stock. As the bark of the stock is thicker than that of the scion the outer surface of the scion will be a little lower than that of the stock. It is not always possible to make the lines correspond exactly, but perfectly satisfactory unions are obtained if these lines were very near together or cross in one or two places.

The cutting of the scion should be done with a very sharp, clean knife, and its insertion in the stock should be immediate, before it has a chance to become dry even on the surface. It is bad practice to prepare the scions beforehand.

After the Scion is Set.-As soon as the scion is in place, all cut surface of stock and scion should be carefully covered with a couple of inches of moist, well-pulverized soil (see H, fig. 2), and a stake driven in such a position that it will support the first growth of the graft. The complete filling of the hole may be deferred for a few hours, except in extremely hot, dry weather, but not long enough to run any risk of having the scion become even slightly dry. No wax, clay or similar material is needed. There is nothing better to put around the union than moist, loose soil. This gives the conditions of moisture and aeration most favorable to the uniting of the tissues. It is a good practice to cover the cleft in the stock with a little clay, a

leaf, or anything that will exclude the soil, but unless the cleft is large, this is not necessary. The filling up of the hole with soil should be complete and the whole scion may be covered up unless the soil has a tendency to bake. When finished, each graft will be in the middle of a wide mound of soil (See H,, fig. 2). Narrow mounds may become. too dry.

Length of Scion.-It is usual to use scions of two buds, but there is often advantage in having them longer. Three and even more, buds have been used with advantage on large vines. With only 2 buds on such vines the growth is often so rapid and so large as to be almost unmanageable. With several buds, it is sometimes possible to obtain 5 or 6 bunches of grapes the first year, which, if the variety is early, will ripen sufficiently for wine-making.

After Treatment of the Grafts. The proper management of the grafts during the first growing season is as important as the grafting itself.

The mounds should not be disturbed by hoe or cultivator until the unions are well formed. If the scions are completely covered and the mounds form a hard crust, this crust should be carefully broken with the fingers.

Suckering. Many large, vigorous shoots will come up from the old stock. If these are left too long, they will choke or dwarf the graft. If they are removed too soon, many good grafts will be disturbed and killed by injuring the unions. Judgment and careful work are therefore needed in suckering. When the grafts have started to grow vigorously, so that the shoots can be tied to the stake, it is safe to commence suckering. The suckers can usually, at this time, be removed in bunches by pulling up by the hand without removing any soil. Unless it is quite certain that the suckers are not entangled with the scion, some soil must be carefully removed until it is possible to see how to detach the suckers without disturbing the union.

Where grafts are slow in starting, and the suckers vigorous, it is necessary to sucker before the scion has grown much. This can be done safely if care is used.

Tying Up the Shoots.-When the union is complete, the growth of the grafts on large vines is generally very rapid. A growth of 2 or 3 inches a day, and many canes 10 to 15 feet long on a vine at the end of the season, is common. Unless this vigorous growth is properly managed its benefits are not only lost, but it gives great trouble the following year and makes it impossible to obtain a properly shaped, healthy vine. If the canes are left to themselves they will often grow flat on the ground, and as they may be 11⁄2 inches thick or more by the

end of the season, the attempt to raise them up the next year will result in many of the finest grafts being torn out of the stock, and the rest will make ill-shaped vines, weakened by numerous large wounds.

The shoots should therefore be tied to the stake with a loose piece of string or thin rope as soon as they are long enough. If too many shoots start, they should be thinned. This thinning should be done early, in order to throw all the available strength and growth into the shoots left. One shoot to each bud is enough on strong vines, and one shoot to a graft on weak or small vines.

When the shoots left have grown 2 or 3 feet, they should be cut back 6 inches or so, in order to force out laterals. The laterals which start below 8 or 10 inches from the base of the shoot should be pinched off when small, but all laterals above that allowed to grow. The new vine is thus completely formed the first season, the main shoot forming the trunk of the vine and the laterals the 2, 3 or 4 branches. Such a vine may produce almost a full crop the following year.

The cost of grafting over an old vineyard properly will in all cases be considerable, and will seldom be less than $25 per 1000 vines above the ordinary cost of cultivation, and without reckoning the cost of stakes and the loss of crop. With large vines, the cost may considerably exceed this.

The Agricultural Experiment Station will send a small quantity of silkworm eggs free of charge to any one willing to co-operate with it in its effort to make silk culture profitable in California.

A large number of eggs of all the leading races of silkworms from various countries where the silk is grown commercially, in Europe and Asia, have been secured and we desire to interest as large a number of persons as possible.

Thus far the growing of silk has been unprofitable in this state. The reason it has not developed here is strictly because of our economic conditions. The climate in many parts of the state is ideal and silkworms have been grown here every year in small quantities for more than a generation. As long as the profits from other industries are larger than those secured in growing silk, this industry cannot thrive and should not be encouraged.

Neither the price of silk nor the cost of labor are liable to change enough in the near future to render the growing of silk profitable in this state if carried on in the usual manner.

The present experiment.-There is, however, a possibility that the cost of production can be diminished as has been done in recent years in the case of many other agricultural crops. The use of a cheaper food, or the employment of less expensive methods of handling the worms, may, either of them, be sufficient to place the industry on a sound financial basis.

We are soliciting co-operation in the attempt to solve the first of these problems, the securing of cheaper food, by testing as great a range of food plants as possible. We propose to endeavor to develop silkworms that will thrive on some plant producing more tons of leaves to the acre and one cheaper to harvest than the mulberry, which has hitherto been exclusively employed in silk production.