8 4 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP. 



pies of 

 grafting. 



How to 



graft. 



rheprinci- parent tree, and made to grow on the stock. There are 

 various ways of performing the operation, all of which have 

 different terms applied to them, but the principle involved 

 in all is, that the whole or a portion of the bark of the scion 

 must be in contact with that of the stock. 



Whip, or tongue grafting \s the kind most often employed, 

 and it is performed in the following manner. The stock 

 having been cut back, or " headed down" as it is termed, 

 one side of it is pared away in a sloping direction for an 

 inch or an inch and a half, and a wedge-shaped portion is 

 then to be removed from the upper part. The scion is then 

 cut so as to fit the stock in fact one is tongued into the 

 other (Fig. D.). The scion and the stock are then bound 

 firmly together with bast, and grafting wax (or prepared 

 clay) is applied over all so as to keep in the moisture. The 

 scion should have three or four buds in it, the lower one of 

 which must be near the cut surface applied to the stock, and 

 it is advisable also that the stock should be headed down 

 close to a bud, as the vital processes are always more active 

 in such situations. Care must also be taken that the bark 

 of the stock and the scion are accurately applied to each 

 other, but it is not necessary that both should be of the 

 same size, although it is better for them to be so. 



Other methods are wedge grafting (Fig. E.) and saddle 

 grafting (Fig. F.). The way in which the scion and stock 

 should be cut in these two methods is easily understood by 

 looking at the figures. Of course the same precautions are 

 necessary as in tongue grafting. 



Grafting Crown grafting is very useful in orange culture, especi- 



orange trees. ,, v j i r 



ally when it is desired to graft sweet oranges on to large and 

 old sour orange stock. The trunk of the tree is cut right 

 through with a saw, and then smoothed off with a knife. 

 Two or three scions are then inserted between the bark and 

 . the wood. It will be found much easier to insert the scions 

 if a piece of hardwood, cut the exact size and shape of their 



