DIFFERENT MODES OF GRAFTING. 273 



by perpetual division from the time of the Eomans. A slip taken 

 from a Willow in Mr. Knight's garden, pronounced by him as dying 

 from old age, was planted in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden about 

 thirty years ago, and is now a vigorous tree, although the original stock 

 has long since undergone decay. It is true, however, that a cutting 

 taken from a specimen already exhausted by excessive development 

 of its parts, will partake of the impaired vigour of its parent, and will 

 possess less constitutional energy than that taken from a vigorous stock. 



572. In grafting, various methods have been adopted. One of these 

 is grafting by approach, or inarching, when two growing plants are 

 united together, and after adhesion one is severed from its own stock, 

 and left to grow on the other. This kind of adhesion sometimes takes 

 place naturally in trees growing close together. It is well seen in a 

 iir-tree in the burying-ground at Killin. The branch of the same tree 

 may also be bent, so as to become united to the stem at two points. 

 This is often seen in the Ivy. The roots of contiguous trees occasion- 

 ally unite by a process of grafting, and to this is attributed the 

 continued vigour of the stump of Sprace-trees cut down on the Swiss 

 mountains. This natural grafting of roots has been observed in the 

 White Pine (Abies pectinata), and sometimes in the Red Pine (Abies 

 excelsa), as well as in the Scotch Fir (Pinus sylvestris). 



573. The usual method of grafting is by scions or slips, which are 

 applied to the stock by a sloping surface, or are inserted into slits 

 in it by cleft-grafting, or into perforations by wimble or peg-grafting. 

 Sometimes several slips are placed in a circular manner, round the 

 inside of the bark of the stock, by crown-grafting; or the bark of a 

 portion of the stock is removed, and that of the scion is hollowed out, 

 so as to be applied over it like the parts of a flute, hence called flute- 

 grafting. Budding is practised by the removal of a bud from one 

 plant, along with the portion of the bark and new wood, and applying it 

 to another plant, in which a similar wound has been made. Grafting 

 is usually performed between the woody parts of plants, but herba- 

 ceous parts may also be united in this way. The graft and stock are 

 secured together by means of clay, or a mixture of bees'-wax and 

 tallow, or by bits of Indian rubber. 



574. By grafting, all our good varieties of apples have been pro- 

 duced from the Crab Apple. The seeds of the cultivated apples, when 

 sown, produce plants which have a tendency to revert to the original 

 sour Crab. Grafted varieties can only be propagated by cuttings. 

 The influence exercised by the stock is very marked, and it is of great 

 importance to select good stocks on which to graft slips. In this way 

 the fruit is often much improved by a process of ennobling, as it is 

 called. The scion also seems in some cases to exercise a remarkable 

 eflect on the stock. Slips taken from varieties with variegated leaves, 

 grafted on non-variegated, have caused the leaves of the latter to 



