96 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 



position until every pore of the cloth is filled with it. The 

 person who applies it to the grafts takes it from these 

 balls, tears it in pieces the length and breadth required 

 by the size of the stock, and two or three turns of it 

 around the graft secure it completely. This thin cloth 

 soon decays, and yields to the enlargement of the part it 

 incloses. We have tried tow, paper, and other materials, 

 but find this the best. Having the cions, implements, 

 and composition in readiness, the work is performed as 

 follows : 



Whip- Grafting on the Hoot. For this purpose, seed- 

 ling stocks are generally used, one or two 

 years old, varying from one-fourth to three- 

 eighths of an inch in diameter. The graft is 

 always made at the collar, and, therefore, the 

 stems of the plants are cut off at that 

 point ; the small tap-roots and any cumbrous 

 fibres are removed, 

 leaving them about 

 four inches in length 

 (fig. 73) ; they are then 

 washed clean, and are 

 ready for the opera- 

 tion. The grafter then 

 makes a smooth, even, 

 sloping cut, an inch 

 long, upwards, on the 

 collar of the root, A ; 

 and in the center of 

 this cut he makes a 

 slit or tongue, -B, 

 downwards. The cion, 

 which should be three 



Or four inches long 2/, the tongue. Fig. 75, the union of cion and 



(fig. 74), is cut on the stock - 



lower end with a sloping cut downwards, and similar 



