3 fi PROPAGATION. 



While the cuts are easier to make than those of the whip-graft 

 there is this disadvantage, which to men who graft in quantity 

 is an important consideration that it requires more care in the 

 tying. The band must be strong and should be firmly adjusted, 

 to insure keeping the scion in place until union is effected. 



It seems almost unnecessary to remark that in grafting, 

 when cut surfaces of hard wood are placed together, no union 

 takes place between them, and yet I have not unfrequently 

 met practical men, who could graft well, who were not clear 

 on this point, but supposed that union took place over the 

 whole cut surface. It is in the cambium and young sap-wood, 

 and there only, that the power of union and growth lies. 



Now, in the veneer-graft, the only cut surfaces of wood 

 are the oblique end-cuts, and as stock and scion are placed 

 together, the oblique cut on the scion is covered by the tongue 

 of bark on the stock, so that if the work is well done union 

 takes place all around the cut wood, and it is securely pro- 

 tected from outside influence. The oblique end-cut on the 

 stock being surrounded by growing tissue is usually imbedded 

 in new growth the first season. The union between the side- 

 cuts, which should be of the same width, and from an inch to 

 an inch and a half in length, is complete throughout. This I 

 have proved by making transverse and longitudinal sections 

 of a large number of grafts. 



In grafting the peach, which, from its large pith and spongy 

 wood, scarcely ever succeeds as commonly performed, it is 

 found advantageous, in selecting the grafts, to leave a part of 

 the wedge portion of the more compact two-years' wood at the 

 lower extremity. 



In grafting the plum and cherry, success is found to be 

 much more certain when the work is performed very early in 

 spring, before the buds commence swelling, or even before the 

 snow has disappeared from the ground. Apples and pears 

 may be grafted later, and if the scions have been kept in good 

 condition in a dormant state, they will mostly grow if inserted 

 even after the trees are in leaf. 



After a graft is inserted, and as soon as the tree commences 

 growth, the buds on the stock must be rubbed off, in order to 

 throw the rising sap into the scion. If large trees are grafted, 

 the buds need only rubbing off the branch which holds it. 



Where it becomes desirable to preserve rare sorts, which 



