These old vines can be remodeled easily by means of grafting. Cut off the trunk five or six inches below the surface of the ground, leaving an inch or two of straight wood above the roots. Into this stub insert two cions exactly as for cleft-grafting the apple. Cions of two or three buds, of firm wood the size of a lead-pencil, should be inserted. The top bud should stand above the ground. The cleft will need no tying nor wax, although it is well to place a bit of waxed cloth or other material over the wound to keep the soil out of it. Fill the earth tightly about it. Fig. 37 shows the first year's growth from two cions of Niagara set in a Red Wyoming root. Great care must be taken in any pruning which is done this first year, or the cions may be loosened. If the young shoots are tied to a stake there will be less danger from wind and careless workmen. In the vine shown in the illustration, no pruning nor rubbing out was done, but the vine would have been in better shape for training if only one or two shoots had been allowed to grow. Such a vine as this can be carried onto the trellis next year; or it may be cut back to three or four buds, one of which is allowed to make the permanent trunk next year, like a two-year set vine.
If it is desired, however, to keep the old top, it will be best to cut back the annual growth heavily at the winter pruning. The amount of wood which shall be left must be determined by the vigor of the plant and the variety, but three or four canes of six to ten buds each may be left at suitable places. During the next season a strong shoot from the base of each cane may be allowed to grow, which shall form the wood of the following season, while all the present cane is cut away at the end of the year. So the bearing wood is renewed each year, as in the regular systems of training. Much skill and experience are often required to properly rejuvenate an old vine; and in very many cases the vine is not worth the trouble.
=THIS ILLUSTRATION= was made from a photograph of fair samples of the different grades of our grape vines, reduced to one-tenth their natural size.
We take great pride and comfort in our ability to furnish _strong_, _fibrous-rooted_ stock, so well appreciated by intelligent and experienced fruit growers.