252 



GRAFTING BY DETA CHED SCIONS. 



Fig. 197. 



Fig. 198. 



Fig. 199. 



Fig. 200. 



position. Sometimes a notch is cut on the scion immediately under a 

 bud, and this notch is made to rest on the top of the stock, as in 

 fig. 198; and in such cases, when 

 the scion and the stock are about 

 the same diameter, the summit of 

 the latter is certain of being healed 

 over the first season. 



Splice-grafting the Peach. In 

 splice-grafting the shoots of peaches, 

 nectarines, and apricots, and other 

 tender shoots with large pith, it is 

 found of advantage to have a quarter 

 of an inch of two-year old wood at 

 the lower extremity of the scion (fig. 

 199, a), and to have the stock cut 

 with a dovetail notch (b). In the 

 case of the fruit-trees mentioned, the buds of the scion on the back 

 and front are removed, leaving two on each side, and a leader ; and 

 when these have grown six or eight inches, their extremities are 

 pinched off with the finger and thumb ; 

 by which means each shoot will throw 

 out two others, and thus produce in 

 autumn a finely-shaped tree, with ten 

 branches. Such trees will bear two or 

 three fruits the second year from the 

 Q graft. ' Gard. Mag.,' vol. iii. p. 150. 



Cleft-grafting, fig. 200, requires less 

 care than splice-grafting, and seems to 

 have been the mode in most general use 

 in former ages. It is now chiefly adopted 

 when the scion is a good deal larger than 

 the stock, and more especially when 

 grafting stocks of considerable height, 

 or heading down old trees. The head Cleft-grafting. 

 of the stock being cut over horizontally 

 with a saw (fig. 201), a cleft is made in it, from two 

 to three inches in length, with a stout knife or chisel, 

 or with the splitting-knife (fig. 202). The cleft being kept open 

 by the knife or chisel, or the pick-end of the splitting-knife, one or 



two scions are inserted, ac- 

 cording to the diameter of the 

 stock ; the scions being cut 

 into long wedge shapes, in a 

 double sense, and inserted into 

 the slit prepared for them, 

 when the knife or chisel being 

 withdrawn, the stock closes 

 firmly upon the scions, and holds them fast. The graft is then 

 tied and clayed in the usual manner, and the whole is frequently 



Splice-grafting 



Fig. 201. 



Bow-saw for cutting off branches of trees. 



