S28 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



country may perform at the rate of fifty or sixty trees per hour ; experts in our nurseries, 

 with the disadvantages of having to stoop, proceed with a celerity little less than the 

 American bench grafters. 



Double grafting. This has been already propounded in theory, and we now proceed to 

 show it in practice. Whip-grafting is the best method of effecting it, but as there are 

 other methods it may be instructive to show them. Double- tongue or splice grafting neces- 

 sitates cutting the stock off at the distance from the ground the scion is to be inserted, 

 making a clean even cut with a gentle slant, R (Fig. 21). Then place the knife about 

 1| inch below the point where it was first applied, and cut a slip upwards (S), being 

 guided as to the size of the cut by the thickness of the scion. Next reverse the edge 

 of the knife, run it downwards, beginning at the bottom of the last cut, keeping the slip 

 the same size, so as to form a flap about 1^ inches long (T). Now make a second 

 downward cut, starting | inch from the top of the stock and about 1 inch long, forming 

 a tongue (m), and then, with the previous cut, two clefts are made in the stock as shown 

 in U. The stock is then prepared. Now take the scion, cut it transversely 2f inches 

 below where it is to rest on the top of the stock ; then at that distance from its base make 

 a slanting cut downwards, bringing the cut out at the base at the opposite side, forming 

 the bottom into a wedge ( V). Next make a cut, beginning at the same point as before 

 and slanting the same as the top as shown in W\ the depth of the cut must depend on 

 the thickness of the stock and scion. If the scion is small, and the stock also moderately 

 small, these cuts should go about half through, but if the stock is much larger than the 

 scion, the cut should go more than half through, just beyond the pith. Next reverse the 

 knife, and, beginning half an inch from the base, make a cut upwards so as to remove at 

 the upper part a slice of wood corresponding to the depth of the cut in W\ then make a 

 cut upwards, beginning a little below the middle of the slant to form the tongue (n, in X) 

 to fit into the cleft made by its cut, m, in U. Finally, cut a thin slip from the opposite 

 side about 1 inch long, at the base 0, in X. 



The scion, shown sectionally in Y, now needs fitting to the stock, Z. Slip the point 

 (p) within the flap (q\ and the point of the tongue (r) into the cleft (s), taking care to 

 bring the two slanting portions into contact, and, above all, making sure that the layers 

 of living tissue accurately join, as before described under " Whip-grafting," and the 

 work will be done. 



In the manner described, a Mahaleb cherry stock, having a seedling Morello put on, 

 and making satisfactory progress, may be grafted the following spring with one of the 



