f 



I;ecCTr,ber, 1922 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



337 



The Art of Grafting Trees 



THE art of grafting is very old, 

 being mentioned by Pliny, 2000 

 years ago. By grafting, the nursery- 

 nan perpetuates named varieties of 

 nut-trees and ornamental shrubs which 

 would not come true from seed. Grafting 

 ilso changes the character of trees as in 

 jroducing dwarf trees of apples, by 

 grafting on paradise stock, and pears on 

 quince. Grafting also changes the season 

 of ripening in fniits, is the means of 

 adapting trees to adverse soils and 

 climate, makes them more fruitful, cor- 

 rects poor habits, delays degeneration of 

 variety, increases the size of fruit, 

 changes color of foliage and flowers, and 

 may influence the flavor of fruits, as in 

 some varieties of pears, worked on quince 

 stock. 



Sometimes it happens that a tree will 

 not bear fruit because it is sterile. By 

 grafting a scion of a fertile variety on to 

 the branch on the windward side of the 

 tree, it is made to bear heavy crops. 

 When it is desired to change an old tree 

 from one variety to another, the whole 

 tree is grafted over. 



Grafting is generally practised in 

 spring, just before the buds begin to 

 open, the scion having been taken a few 

 weeks before the operation, from the 

 most fruitful and desirable tree (if fruit 

 trees are being grafted), that it is possible 

 to get. The scions are made from young 

 year old wood taken from the top of 

 bearing trees when pruning, and these 

 are generally heeled in till needed. In 

 all kinds of grafting the one point to 

 watch is that the cambium layers in 



stock and scion lying between the bark 

 and weed meet. Without this no union 

 is possible. 



There are many curious ways in which 

 trees and shrubs are grafted, each, the 

 most suitable for the operation being 

 performed. In the accompanying dia- 

 gram are shown a few in general practice. 

 Cleft-grafting is one of the most common 

 forms in working over fruit trees and is 

 shown at (D). The branch is cut off 

 with a saw, then split open with the 

 grafting knife, (B), the mallet (X), being 

 used to drive the knife (A), into the cut. 

 The scions are made from young wood 

 (F). Then the cleft is opened with the 

 point of the knife (D), and the scion 

 slipped in and the knife withdrawn. 

 When the scions are in position, they are 

 tied in with strips of cloth and wax ap- 

 plied over the exposed parts of the 

 union. (P) and (C) shows how the 

 scions are set in the cleft. 



Bark -grafting is shown at (R). The 

 scions are forced down between bark and 

 wood and then waxed over. 



In crown-grafting (H), a slot of bark is 

 removed, and scions cut as shown at (H), 

 to put into it, (I). These are waxed over, 

 (J). In another form of crown-grafting, 

 (K), a slot is cut with the inlaying tool 

 (G) instead of removing a piece of bark. 



(O) shows root-grafting of young trees 

 (U), with stock and scion in place. This 

 is afterwards waxed over. Approach - 

 grafting is shown at (M). In this stock 

 and scion are two growing plants. Stock 

 and scion are cut as shown at (Y), then 



tied together till united, when the tip of 

 the stock is cut away. 



Bottle-grafting, (L), is a form of 

 grafting used when stock and scion are a 

 long time uniting. The ends of the 

 scions are extended down into bottles of 

 water, to help keep them alive till a 

 union is formed. 



Bridge-grafting (S), is used in repairing 

 trees damaged by Ice and gophers. 

 Scions are made, (Z), and forced into the 

 bark top and bottom to keep the tree 

 alive till the bark grows again. 



Saddle-grafting is shown at (V). Her- 

 baceous-grafting (T), in which both 

 stock and scion are growing plants like 

 geraniums or begonias can be grafted to- 

 gether without wax under glass, by the 

 side graft (W). 



Mctbo^ of Gfmftliig Trees 



i iiff .irp niitnfT(ni<; methods of grafting trees, a number of which are shown In this flhtstration. A short 



desmption is given in the accompanying article. 



How to Propagate Gladioli 



Mrs. G. A. Bonisteel, Bellcvifle, Ont. 



THE gladiolus may be propagated 

 in three ways: by division of 

 bulbs, bulblets, and seed. 



In the first two methods we secure a 

 reproduction of what we started with, 

 but in the third method we are likely 

 to get something quite different from 

 the parent. As practical hybridizing is 

 a subject itself, we will not devote 

 attention to it in this paper 



In purchasing corms a young one is 

 always to be preferred; that is a bulb 

 grown from a cormel and about two 

 years old, it will probably range in size 

 from an inch to one and a half inches. 

 Different varieties produce different 

 sized corms when fully matured. Some- 

 times an ordinary variety produces a 

 very large corm, and on the other hand 

 some choice varieties do not grow large 

 corms. Therefore do not expect all 

 corms to be the same size unless speci- 

 ai'y graded, particularly when buying a 

 mixture. 



Young corms of the age spoken of 

 dojnot multiply freely by division, but 

 produce many cormels. 



Old corms will increase by division, 

 but they do not produce cormels as well 

 as young ones. If we want to increase 

 a variety rapidly, the growing of cormels 

 is the quickest way, although this 

 requires patience 



To get the best results from cormels, 

 theyfmay be stored in sand which may 

 be slightly moistened toward spring. 

 Do not allow a mould to form, although 

 I doubt if this storing in sand is usually 

 done. In the spring they are sown 

 thickly in drills to a depth of one and a 

 half inches and kept moist. Excessive 

 moisture for cormels is the whole secret 

 in germinating. 



Peeling the hard shell off the cormel 

 also helps, but we can do this only with 

 a small quantity. Soaking in warm 

 water for a few hours is also a help in 

 getting growth started . Another method 

 is to cover the ground after planting 

 with a piece of burlap until sprouts 



