90 



"When plants of any variety are scarce, the cuttings may be 

 shorter. Sometimes they are reduced to a single " eye " or bud, 



with an inch or two of wood 

 attached ; and these single-eye 

 cuttings are planted much as 

 one plants seeds. 



The Graft. 

 If the cutting were planted 



in a plant rather than in the soil, 



w e sh o u 1 d 



have a graft ; 



and the graft 



might grow. 



In this case, 



the cutting 



would not 

 make roots, but it w^ould grow fast to the other 

 plant, and the twain would become one. AYlien 

 the cutting is inserted in a plant, it is no longer 

 called a cutting, but a cion ; and the plant in 

 which it is inserted is called the stock. The com- 

 pleted thing — cion growing in the stock 



52. — Begonia leaf cutting, 

 size. 



Natural 





is a 



graft. 



T 



ting. One-thinl 

 natural size. 



Plants are particular as to their companions, 

 when it comes to sucli close relationships as these. 

 They choose tho stocks upon wliich they will 

 grow ; but we can hnd out what their choice is 

 only by making the experiment. There are queer 53.— Currant cut- 

 things about it. The pear grows well on the 

 (piince, but the quince does not grow so well on 

 the pear. The pear grows on some of the hawthorns, but it is an 

 unwilling subject on the apple. Tomato plants will grow on potato 

 plants and potato plants on tomato plants. When the potato is the 

 root, both tomatoes and potatoes may be produced ; when the 

 tomato is the root, neither potatoes nor tomatoes will be produced. 

 Chestnuts will grow on some kinds of oaks. 



48S 



