How to propagate Shrubs. 149 



Buddings Graflhig, Inarching. — All these processes consist in 

 implanting a portion of the shrub or tree which we wish to multiply, in 

 the bark and wood of another shrub or tree of a kindred nature. If 

 the stock is not of a nature kindred to that of the bud or scion, the 

 operation will not take etlect. The methods of procedure are very 

 numerous, and to describe them would occupy a great deal of si^ace. 

 They are all the same in principle, and consist in bringing the sap-ves- 

 sels of the plant to be propagated into close contact with the sap-vessels 

 of the stock, and keeping them thus in contact till they unite. In bud- 

 ding, this is done when the sap of the stock is in full action ; that is to 

 say, when the stock is in active growth. A slit is made in the bark, 

 and a dormant bud of the plant to be propagated, with a small portion 

 of bark attached, is slipped into it and bound fast. If the plant is con- 

 genial with the stock, the union takes place very readily. In grafting, 

 not the scion alone, but the stock also, may be in a dormant state, or 

 nearly so ; consequently the opei^ation may take place in the spring, 

 before growth is fairly begun, and, in most cases, this is by far the best 

 time for performing it. The scion, or shoot of the plant to be prop- 

 agated, is fitted to the stock in such a way that the inner bark of the 

 two shall be in close contact. It is then secured in this position, and 

 covered with grafting-wax or clay, to protect it from the drying effects 

 of the air. The methods of proceeding are very numerous, and are 

 explained at length in books of practical horticulture. They are all 

 the same in principle, and admit of almost endless variation in practice. 

 To attempt to describe them here would treble the length of this article. 

 Inarching is a kind of grafting in which the scion is allowed to remain 

 on the parent plant till it becomes united to the stock. To accomplish 

 it, the stock and the plant to be propagated must be grown side by side, 

 or else one or the other of them must be in a pot, so that the two can 

 be placed together. A portion of wood is shaved from the stem of the 

 stock, and a corresponding portion from a branch of the shrub to be 

 propagated. The flat surfaces thus formed are then brought together, 

 bound fast, and covered with wax. In the course of the season they 

 unite, and the shoot, now receiving nourishment from the sap of the 

 stock, is cut from the parent plant, and begins at once an independent 

 growth. 



