PROPAGATION BY GRAFTING. 



99 



knife ; then cut the cion on one side, about an inch and 

 a half long, making a shoulder at the top ; then raise the 

 bark from the stock with the handle of a budding-knife, 

 and insert the cion between the bark and wood; ap- 

 ply the composition the same as in the others, all over 

 the cut part. Two or three cions may be put in each. 

 The principal objection to this mode is that the grafts, if 

 they grow rapidly, are apt to 

 be blown off before they have 

 united strongly to the stock. 



The great points to observe 

 always, are to have sharp in- 

 struments, that will make 

 smooth, clean cuts; to have 

 placed in perfect contact the 

 inner barks of cion and stock ; 

 to have the whole cut surface 

 and every portion of the split 

 perfectly covered with the com- 

 position, and to exclude air and 

 water. The cion should always 

 be cut close to a bud at the point 

 (A, fig. 76), and have a bud at 

 the shoulder, or point of union 

 with the stock (A, fig. 78). 



In grafting the heads of large 

 trees, it is not convenient to use 

 the composition in a melted 

 state, to be put on with the 

 brush, and the large cut surfaces 

 cannot well be covered with the 

 cloth ; it is, therefore, better to with two cions inserted. 

 use the composition in such a state that it can be put on 

 with the hands. A very small quantity of brick-dust may 

 be advantageously mixed with it when intended for this 

 purpose, to prevent its being melted by the sun. 



79. 80. 



Figs. 79 and 80. CLEFT 



GRAFTING. 



