8S GRAFTING. 



Dr. Hope's Willows, see p. 62, and a whole row of 

 Lime-trees in the garden of New College, Oxford, 

 whose branches thus make a network. Thib is called 

 grafting by approach. A more common practice, called 

 budding, or inoculating, is to insert a bud of one tree, 

 accompanied by a portion of its bark, into the bark of 

 another, and the tree which is thus engrafted upon is 

 called the stock. By this mode different kinds of fruits, 

 as apples, pears, plums, &c., each of which is only a 

 variety accidentally raised from seed, but no further 

 perpetuated in the same manner, are nmltiplied, buds 

 of the kind wanted to be propagated being engrafted on 

 so many stocks of a wild nature. The mechanical part 

 of this practice is detailed in Du Hamel, Miller, and 

 most gardening books. It is of primary importance 

 that the liber ^ or young bark, of the bud, and that of the 

 stock, should be accurately united by their edges. The 

 air and wet must of course be excluded. 



It is requisite for the success of this operation that 

 the plants should be nearly akin. Thus the Chionan- 

 thiis virg/fiica, Fringe-tree, succeeds well on the Com- 

 mon Ash, Fraximis excelsior^ by which means it is 

 propagated in our gardens. Varieties of the same spe- 

 cies succeed best of all ; but Apples and Pears, two dif- 

 ferent species of the same genus, may be grafted on one 

 stock. The story of a Black Rose being produced by 

 grafting a common rose, it is not worth inquiring which, 

 on a black currant stock, is, as far as I can learn, with- 

 out any foundation, and is indeed at the first sight absurd. 

 I have known the experiment tried to no purpose. The 

 rose vulgarly reported to be so produced is merely e 



