GRAFTING 



GRAFTON 



341 



Fig. 1. Cleft-grafting. 



by sticking their lower end into a potato or moi-t 

 10000 or clay. The end hould alwnyH lie freshly 

 i-ui oil' when the Hciou U to I*) used. There are 

 various modes of grafting. 

 Cli-ft -iiriift imj (tig. 1) IM 

 very coniinonly practiced 

 wlit-n tin- stock in very con- 

 siderably thicker than the 

 scion. The stock, ln-in- cut 

 over, \ cleft down, and the 

 graft, cut into the shape of 

 a wedge at its lower end by 

 a sharp thin knife, is in- 

 serted into the cleft. This 

 mode of grafting is particu- 

 larly applicable to branches 

 of large trees, when the introduction of a new variety 

 of fruit or increased fruitfulness is sought. Crown- 

 grafting is used for still thicker stocks, which are 

 cut across, ami then cleft down by two clefts 

 rro-.ing one another at right angles, two scions 

 being inserted close to the bark in each cleft ; or 

 no cleft at all is made, and any desired num- 

 ber of scions obliquely cut away on one side 

 are simply inserted 

 between the bark and 

 wood of the stock, the 

 operation in this case 

 being deferred till the 

 bark readily parts from 

 the wood. In this kind 

 of grafting a longi- 

 tudinal slit in the bark 

 of the stock, opposite 

 to each graft, is ad- 

 vantageous. Tongue- 

 grafting (fig. 2) is the 

 mode most commonly 

 practised for young 

 trees in nurseries. For 

 this it is necessary 

 that the stock and the 

 scion should be of not 

 very different thickness. 

 A slit or a very narrow angular incision is made 

 in the centre of the stock downwards, and a 

 similar one in the scion upwards, both having 

 been first cut obliquely at corresponding angles; 

 and, the tongue thus made in the scion being 

 inserted into the incision in the stock, they are 

 fastened very closely and thoroughly together. In 

 *< bile-grafting the end of the stock is cut into 

 the form of a wedge, and the scion is affixed to 

 it, the base of the scion having been cut or slit up 

 for tin- pin ]*<>. Shoulder-grafting, used chiefly for 

 ornamental trees, is performed by cutting obliquely, 

 and then cutting across a small part at top of the 

 -tock, so as to form a shoulder, the scion being cut 

 to lit it. Peg-grafting, not now much in use, is 

 accomplished by making the end of the scion into 

 a peg, and boring the top of the stock to receive 

 it. 



Whichever of these modes of grafting is adopted 

 the graft must l)e fastened in its place by tying, 

 for which purpose a strand of bast-matting is 

 coniinonly use<f. The access of air is further pre- 

 \ented by means of clay, which has been worked 

 up with a little chopped hay, horse or cow dung, 

 a ml water, and which is applied to the place of 

 junction so as to form a ball, tapering both upwards 

 and downwards, In France a composition of 28 

 parts black pitvh, 28 Burgundy pitch, 16 yellow 

 ua\, 14 tallow, and 14 sifted "ashes is generally 

 used instead of clay. The progress of the buds 

 shows the union of the graft and stock, but it is 

 not generally safe to remove the clay in less than 

 three months ; and the ligatures, although then 

 loosened, are allowed to remain for some time 



Fig. 2. 



a, tongue-grafting ; b, do. with 

 ligature applied; c, do. with 

 clay applied. 



longer. From Home kind* of fruit-tree* fruit i* 

 ott.-n obtained in tin- M-rond \i-ar after grafting. 



liiidding (i| . v.) is in principle the name an graft- 

 ing; and Jluti' iirnjtiiiii i a kind of budding in 

 whirh a ring of bark with one or more IIIHIH in 

 ii-i-d Instead of a single bud, and, a nt<x-k of 

 similar thickncnH having been cut over, a corre- 

 sponding ring of bark i removed, and tlie foreign 

 out- substituted. Thin is commonly jerformed in 

 siuing, when the bark part* readily, and u one of 

 the surest mod.- of grafting. Inarching or graft- 

 ing by avjtroach, in which the scion in not cut 

 off from its parent stem until it in united to the 

 new stock, is practised chiefly in the case of some 

 valuable shrubs kept in pots, in which success by 

 the ordinary methods is very doubtful. 



An effect is produced by the stock on the scion 

 which it nourishes analogous to that of a changr 

 of soil ; much of the vigour of a strong health} 

 stock is also communicated to a scion taken even 

 from an aged tree. There is, moreover, in some 

 degree, an influence of the elalwirated sap descend- 

 ing from the scion on the stock which support*) it. 

 An important part of the practical skill of the 

 gardener or nurseryman consists in the selection of 

 the proper kinds of stocks for different sjMicies and 

 varieties of fruit-trees. The stock and scion, how- 

 ever, must not be of species extremely dissimilar. 

 No credit is due to the statements of ancient 

 authors about vines grafted on fig-trees, apples on 

 planes, &c., the semblance of which can only have 

 been brought about by some delusive artifice ; for 

 all attempts at grafting fail except among plants of 

 the same genus, or at least of the same natural 

 family. 



Herbaceous plants with firm steins, as dahlias, 

 are sometimes grafted. Some kinds of plante, of 

 small size, in pots, are placed in moist hothouses 

 or hotbeds, under bell-glasses, whilst the junction 

 of the scion and stock is going on, which in these 

 circumstances takes place very surely and very 

 expeditiously. But an accumulation of too much 

 moisture under the bell-glass must be guarded 

 against. 



Grafton, a rising town of New South Wales, 

 350 miles NE. of Sydney, situated on both sides 

 of the Clarence River, and 45 miles from the sea. 

 The river is navigable. The agricultural district 

 yields sugar and tobacco ; and gold, silver, coal, 

 and copper are found. Pop. 4770. Graf ton is also a 

 town of 5000 inhabitants, 9 miles SE. of Worcester in 

 Massachusetts ; and of a railway centre (pop. 3100) 

 in West Virginia, 99 miles SE. of Wheeling. 



Grafton, AUGUSTUS HENRY FITZROY, DUKE 

 OF, statesman, a descendant of Charles II., was 

 born 1st October 1735, and in 1757 succeeded his 

 grandfather, the second duke (see CHARLES II.). 

 He first came to the front in political life in 1763 in 

 the opposition to Bute, and in July 1765 he took 

 office as Secretary of State under Kockingham, but 

 resigned in the following May. Two months later 

 Pitt became premier and Earl of Chatham, making 

 Graf ton First Lord of the Treasury ; but in conse- 

 quence of Chatham's continued illness (i raft on was 

 compelled to take upon his own shoulders the re- 

 sponsible duties of head of the government from 

 September 1767. He resigned in 1770, accepted 

 the office of Lord Privy Seal under Lord North in 

 1771, and filled it until NovemlHT 1775. When the 

 new Rockingham ministry was formed in March 

 1782 Grafton took his old post as Lord Privy Seal, 

 but resigned office thirteen months later. He died 

 at Euston Hall, Suffolk, 14th March 1811. In- 

 dolent, vacillating, somewhat obstinate in his 

 political life, and openly immoral in his private 

 life, Grafton was the target at which Junius (q.v.) 

 shot some of his sharpest invectives. 



