50 FUNDAMENTALS OF AGRICULTURE. 



emerge at various distances from the parent plant and 

 produce new plants. Tubers are swollen, food-stuffed 

 underground stems for reproduction purposes. Some 

 plants take root at the ends of long recurring stems, 

 as in black raspberries. Bulbs are formed by many 

 plants both below and above ground, as in the onion. 

 But in addition to their natural means, many plants 

 will take root and grow when their stems are placed in 

 moist soil or in water. These are called cuttings. 

 Others take root when the stem is laid down and cov- 

 ered at one point with earth, layering, as it is called. 

 A few plants like some begonias, form new plants if 

 a single leaf is placed on wet sand. Some roots can 

 be treated as cuttings, e. g., horseradish, while in 

 other plants the crown of the plant with attached roots 

 can be separated into many parts, each capable of be- 

 coming a new plant, as in the violet. 



Grafting is the process of inserting a portion of a 

 stem (with at least one bud) of one plant, into the 

 stem or root of another plant, in such a way that the 

 parts unite completely, and growth of the inserted por- 

 tion ensues. The part inserted is called the cion, the 

 other the stock. 



Budding is simply a form of grafting in which the 

 cion consists of a small piece of the bark containing 

 one bud. This is slipped into a slit in the bark of 

 the stock, in such a way that the bark laps over the 

 bark of the cion, leaving only the bud and a small piece 

 of bark exposed. The growth resulting from any of 

 the buds of a cion is like the tree from which the cion 

 came. Then it is possible to propagate a good sort 

 of fruit, and be sure that the trees obtained will be of 

 the kind desired. The same is true of cuttings, layer- 

 ings and other methods of propagation mentioned 

 above. 



Stocks Used for Grafting. In grafting, as a gen- 

 eral rule, seedlings of the same species of plant are 

 used for stocks. Sometimes closely related species are 

 used, as quince stocks for pear cions to produce 



