GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 249 



England of Messrs. Hooper and Co., of Central Row, Covent Garden, 

 London. It is of the consistence of common white lead, somewhat 

 resembling half-melted gutta percha, and has an agreeable perfume. 

 It is spread over the parts with the blade of a knife or a flat piece of 

 wood, like butter on bread. While in a box, away from the air, it 

 will keep pliable and moist for many years. It very soon hardens on 

 the outside after being exposed thinly on the graft, and, as it were, 

 hermetically seals up the point of junction, and thus prevents all 

 access of air to the cuts. It is at the same time elastic, and easily 

 removed when required. It has been largely used and highly ap- 

 proved by the late Mr. Thompson of Chiswick, and others. It is much 

 more convenient than clay for tall trees, and is admirably adapted for 

 vine-grafting. Clay and moss are objectionable, as the moist atmo- 

 sphere of vineries causes the scion to root into them ; the use of this 

 mastic checks the formation of such roots, and ensures success. It is 

 equally useful in healing wounds and bruises quickly. A sixpenny 

 box will suffice for a hundred grafts, and the work can be finished 

 without soiling the fingers. Its great advantage over all other mastics 

 is, that it can be used cold, while they require heating. 



Grafting by Detached Scions. 



Grafting by detached scions is the most common mode, and it is 

 that generally used for kernel-fruits, and the hardier forest-trees. It 

 is performed in a great many different ways, as may easily be con- 

 ceived, when we consider that the only essential condition is the close 

 connexion of the alburnum of the scion with that of the stock. Upwards 

 of forty modes of grafting by detached ligneous scions have been de- 

 scribed by Thouin ; but we shall confine ourselves to a few which we 

 consider best adapted for general use. The time for grafting hardy 

 trees and shrubs by detached scions in England is generally in spring, 

 when the sap is rising ; but the vine, if grafted before it is in leaf, 

 suffers from bleeding. In Germany and North America, grafting is 

 frequently performed in the winter time on roots or stocks which have 

 been preserved in sheds or cellars ; and the scion being put on and 

 tied and clayed over, the grafted stock is kept till the spring, and then 

 taken out and planted. Where scions are grafted on roots, this prac- 

 tice is sometimes followed in British nurseries, as in the case of pears 

 and roses. Plants under glass may be grafted at almost any period ; 

 and herbaceous grafting, when and wherever performed, can, of course, 

 only succeed when the shoots of the scion and stock are in a succulent 

 or herbaceous state. In all the different modes of grafting by detached 

 scions, success is rendered more certain, when the sap of the stock is in 

 a more advanced and vigorous state than that of the scion ; for which 

 purpose the scions are generally taken off in autumn, and their vege- 

 tation retarded by keeping them in a shady place till spring ; and the 

 stock is cut over a little above the part where the scion is to be put on, 

 a week or two before grafting takes place. The manual precautions 

 necessary to success are : to fit the scion to the stock in such a manner 



