154 POPULAR FRUIT GROWING. 



cessfully later in the spring, even after the buds have com- 

 menced to swell, providing the buds on the cion are started 

 as much as those on the stock at the time the work is performed. 



The plum may be quite successfully root-grafted in the 

 house in the winter, as recommended for the apple and treated 

 the same way, but it generally takes a year longer to get the 

 tree formed, since in this case the growth from the cion is 

 quite slow the first two years. On account of this slow growth 

 root-grafted plum trees are often crooked and unpromising. 

 This defect, however, may be remedied by cutting away in the 

 early spring of the second year all the growth from the cion 

 except one strong bud at the base. If this work is done very 

 early in the spring it will result in throwing the whole strength 

 of the root into a single bud and the forming of a stem that is 

 straight in place of the former crooked one. A much better and 

 more satisfactory plan than root-grafting is to plant the stocks 

 in the nursery one year before they are intended to be grafted, 

 and then graft them below the surface of the ground very early 

 in the spring. For this purpose cleft or whip-grafting should 

 be used. When the work is done in this way the result is a 

 very strong growth from the cion. If the suckers are pinched 

 off and the whole strength of the root forced into one shoot, the 

 result, on right land and in the case of strong, healthy stock, will 

 be to give a growth often exceeding four feet in height. Some- 

 times the growth in this latter case will be so heavy that the 

 branches are liable to be broken off in the wind, and should 

 be tied to stakes with soft string. The cions should be from 

 four to six inches long. 



Grafting the Cherry. The cherry may be root-grafted in- 

 doors in the winter. When this is done, side-grafting is employ- 

 ed and gives results far ahead of any other method. But with 

 the best of care the losses from in-door grafting of this fruit 

 make it very unsatisfactory. Much better results will be achiev- 

 ed by side-grafting them at the crown of the plant on stocks well 

 established in the open ground, as in the plan recommended for 

 propagation of the plum. In regard to this fruit it is also re- 

 ported that, as in the case of the plum, the work may be done 

 after the stocks start into growth a little, providing the cions 



