GRAFTING, 61 
or even that the two trees should be of the same diameter, for ifthe bark 
and the soft wood correspond in any one point so as to unite, it is 
sufficient to make the graft take. As soon as the scion and the stock 
are properly fitted to each other, the parts are neatly bound together 
with a strand of bast mat steeped in water to make it flexible; and 
the bast is covered with a composition called grafting clay, which is 
put on to keep the absorbent vessels of the wounded parts moist, and 
_ capable of the alternate contractions and dilations which will be neces- 
. 
_ 
sary during the passage of the ascending and returning sap between 
the stock and the graft. These directions apply alike to all kinds of 
grafting; and the difference between the sorts refers principally to the 
manner in which the corresponding parts are cut to fit each other. 
Whip or Tongue Grafiing is where both the stock and the scion 
are cut in a slanting direction so as to fit each other, and a little slit 
is made in the stock into which a tongue or projecting part cut in 
the scion fits. The head ofthe stock is then cut off in a slanting 
direction, slanting upwards from the part cut to receive the scion, 
and the two are bound closely together with a strand of bast mat, or 
wrapped in moss, and then covered with grafting clay. The part 
left on the stock in a slanting direction above the graft withers, and 
is cut off when the graft has taken. This is the kind of grafting ge- 
nerally practised in nurseries, and it is the most useful, as it does not 
require the scion and the stock to be of the same size. 
Cleft Grafting is where the scion is shaped at the extremity like a 
“wedge, and a cleft is made in the stock to receive it. When this 
kind of grafting is practised with trees and shrubs, the head of the 
stock is cut off; but a modification of it is practised with succulent 
plants, in which the end of the graft having been cut into the shape 
of a wedge, is inserted in a cleft or notch made in the side of the 
stock to receive it, and the line of junction is covered with grafting 
wax. ‘The tubers of strong common dahlias may be grafted in the 
cleft manner with choice sorts, as may the tubers of the herbaceous 
ponies with scions of the tree-peony. This last is very useful, as 
cuttings of the Peonia Moutan remain weak for several years, while 
roots grafted in July or August will flower the following spring. 
Crown Grafling resembles the last kind in requiring the head of 
the stock to be cut off, but the scion is shaped at the extremity like a 
wedge flattened on one side, and it is pushed in between the bark 
and wood of the stock, with its flat side next the wood, till it ia 
; F a 
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