90 



52. — Begonia leaf cutting, 

 size. 



Natural 



When plants of any variety are scarce, tlie cuttings may be 

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



witli 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 ; j| 



and the graft 



might grow. 



In this case, 



the cutting 



w o u 1 d not 

 make roots, but it would grow fast to the other 

 plant, and the twain would become one. When 

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

 called a cu-tting, but a cion ; and the plant in 

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

 })leted thing — cion growing in the stock — is a 

 graft. 



Plants are particular as to their companions, 

 when it coines to such close relationships as these. 

 They choose tho stocks upon whicli they will 

 grow ; but we can find out what their choice is 

 only by making the experiment. There are queer 5d.— Currant cut- 

 things about it. The pear grows well on the 

 (piiiice, 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. 



483 



ting. One-third 

 natural size. 



