My Dear Sir/

I have much pleasure in finding you still full of experimental life & have sent you two vines for acceptance with my best wishes

One is a variety of Frontignan with green leaves this is to be the stock the other is a purple leaved sort the Chasselas Noir this is the scion.¹ Pardon me for giving you some instruction— The stock should be shortened to 3 feet & placed in heat when its shoots are from one to two inches long it is ready to insert   The scion vine should be kept out of doors & as dormant as possible—in a northern aspect   without this precaution “bleeding”² will take place

The best covering for the graft is a lump of tenacious clay the size of an elongated pullet’s egg & over this a lump of moss the size of a turkey’s egg or so should be bound with lint & this should be kept moist till the union has taken place. The scion vine should be shortened so as to have 2, 3 or 4 buds above the junctions   The operation is very simple yet as usual much work is required.

I am now an old man & am suffering from a late attack of influenza   75 is not an age to recuperate but I am still interested in culture & in experiments now carried on by my son³ for I am now an idle man   the seedling crossed fruits are of high interest but the thought will intrude “shall I see the end of these matters”? Still I am free from pain & infirmity & have the “mens sana & I am thankful for the prosperity I have long enjoyed

I am My Dear Sir | Y^rs. ever truly | Th^os. Rivers

In the Revue Horticule for this month is the figure of a plum-peach, Prunus Simonii with the flesh of a plum & a rough stone, peach-like   this is from China.⁴ We shall have the same hybrid here ere long   a seedling gage plum last spring had its young fruit covered with down   it was from blossoms crossed by my son with the pollen of the peach thus dropped off

I have forgotten to add that the purple colour is only brought out by exposure to the open air in August or September

The vines should be with you to morrow