GRAFTING 



GRAFTING 



1363 



of the trunk. In order to guard against any accidental 

 displacement it would be well to drive a small tack or 

 nail through each end of the cion, which, however, 

 must not be split in the operation. Other cions in a 

 like manner may be inserted at intervals of about 2 

 inches over the entire injured surface. The ends of the 

 ciofls should be covered with wax but it is not neces- 

 sary to cover all the bridged portion of the trunk. If 

 the tree operated upon is small and likely to weave 

 in the wind it should be tied firmly to a strong stake as 

 such movements might tear apart the tender uniting 

 surfaces." 



Cions are sometimes inserted freely in the stub left 

 by a large broken limb, for the double purpose of pro- 

 viding other shoots to take the place of the branch and 

 of facilitating the healing of the wound. Sometimes 

 cions are inserted in limbs on a one-sided or misshapen 

 tree for the purpose of securing better growth on that 

 side, the variety perhaps being the same as that of the 

 tree itself. 



Another reason for grafting is to produce some radical 

 change in the nature of the cion, as rendering it more 

 dwarf, more fruitful, or otherwise changing its habit. 

 Still another office is to adapt plants to adverse soils 

 or climates. An example is the use of the peach root in 

 the southern states upon which to work the plum, as 

 the peach thrives better than the plum in sandy soils. 

 The practice in Russia of working the apple on roots 

 of the Siberian crab is an example of an effort to make 

 a plant better able to withstand a very severe climate. 



In general, however, grafting is employed for the 

 purpose of multiplying or perpetuating a given variety, 

 mostly of woody plants. It is used with plants that 

 do not bear seeds, or in which the seeds do not come 

 true or are difficult to germinate, or when the plants do 

 not propagate well by cuttings or layers. It is also 

 employed to increase the ease and speed of multiplying 

 plants. 



In common practice, the effect of the stock on the 

 cion is rather more mechanical or physical than physio- 

 logical or chemical. The influences are very largely 

 those associated with greater or less growth. As a rule, 

 each part of the combined plant the stock and cion 

 maintains its individuality. There are certain cases, 

 however, in which the cion seems to partake of the 

 nature of the stock; and others in which the stock par- 

 takes of the nature of the cion. There are recorded 

 instances of a distinct change in the flavor of fruit when 

 the cion is put upon stock that bears fruit of very dif- 

 ferent character. There are some varieties of apples and 

 pears which, when worked on a seedling root, tend to 

 change the habit of growth of that root. Examples are 

 Northern Spy and Whitney apples, which, when grafted 

 on a root of unknown parentage, tend to make that 

 root grow very deep in the soil. All these instances seem 

 to be special cases, or exceptions to the general rule 

 that each part maintains its individuality. Reasons 

 for this change of nature in these cases have not been 

 determined, and in most cases such results are not to 

 be predicted. The most marked effect of stock on the 

 cion is a dwarfing influence. Dwarfing may be expected 

 whenever the stock is of a smaller stature than the 

 cion. ^The most familiar example is the dwarf pear, 

 made by working the pear on quince stock. Supplying 

 a plant with a slow-growing root is only the beginning 

 of the making of a dwarf. The plant must be kept 

 dwarf by subsequent pruning and other care. There is 

 comparatively little demand for large-growing forms 

 of woody plants, whereas there is much demand for 

 dwarf forms. See Dwarfing, page 1082. 



The limits within which grafting can succeed are to 

 be determined only by experiment. These limits are 

 often within the species, and usually within the genus, 

 but there are instances in which plants of distinct genera 

 intergraft with success, as in some of the cacti. In 

 general, the closer the affinity of cion and stock, the 



better the union. When stock of the same species can 

 not be secured, it is allowable to chose another species. 

 Thus it was for a time impossible to secure Japanese 

 plum stocks upon which to grow the varieties of Japan- 

 ese plums, and peach, Marianna, myrobalan and 

 domestica plum stocks have been used, and are used to 

 this day. In some cases another species grows more 

 readily from seed, is cheaper, is less liable to fungous 

 injury in the nursery, or has some other practical 

 advantage. Thus, most domestica plums (Prunus 

 domestica) in the North are worked on the myrobalan 

 (P. cerasifera) ; many sweet and sour cherries (Prunus 

 Avium and P. Cerasus) are worked on the mahaleb 

 (P. Mahaleb); many kinds of roses are worked on 

 manetti and Rosa multiflora stocks. 



From time to time there arises an agitation against 

 grafting, particularly in the Old World. Cases of poor 

 unions and the difficulties of sprouting from the root or 

 stock are cited as proofs that graftage is injurious and 

 devitalizing. But these are examples of poor results. 

 They show what should not be done. Properly per- 

 formed, on plants of proper affinity, graftage is not 

 devitalizing. It is essential to modern horticulture. 



The ways or fashions of grafting are legion. There 

 are as many ways as there are ways of whittling. The 

 operator may fashion the union of the stock and the 

 cion to suit himself, if only he apply cambium to cam- 

 bium, make a close joint, and properly protect the work. 

 Thus, Thouin in his "Monographic des Greffes," 1821, 

 describes 119 kinds of grafting. All kinds of grafting 

 may be classified into three groups: 



1. Bud-grafting or budding. In the old days called inoculation. 



2. Cion-grafting, or what is now thought of as grafting proper. 



3. Grafting by approach, sometimes called inarching. 



Early practice. 



Grafting is one of the oldest of the arts of plant-craft. 

 It is probable that the real art of grafting was held more 

 or less as a professional or class secret in the ancient 

 world, for the writers seem to have only the vaguest 

 notion of its possibilities and limitations. Virgil writes 

 (Preston's translation) : 



But thou shalt lend 



Grafts of rude arbute unto the walnut tree, 

 Shalt bid the unfruitful plane sound apples bear, 

 Chestnuts the beech, the ash blow white with the pear, 

 And, under the elm, the sow on acorns fare. 



It seems to have been a popular misconception that 

 any kind of plant will grow on any other. Pliny asserts 

 that the art of grafting was taught to man by nature. 

 Birds swallow seeds, and these seeds, falling in "some 

 cleft in the bark of a tree," germinate and make plants. 

 "Hence it is that we see the cherry growing upon the 

 willow, the plane upon the laurel, the laurel upon the 

 cherry, and fruits of various tints and hues all spring- 

 ing from the same tree at once." This, of course, is not 

 grafting at all, but the implanting of seeds in earth- 

 filled chinks and cracks, in which the plants find a con- 

 genial foothold and soil. But the ancients have left us 

 abundant testimony that genuine grafting was em- 

 ployed with success. Pliny describes a cleft-graft. He 

 gives several precautions: the stock must be "that of a 

 tree suitable for the purpose," and the graft must be 

 "taken from one that is proper for grafting; the incision 

 or cleft must not be made in a knot; the graft must be 

 from a tree "that is a good bearer, and from a young 

 shoot;" the graft must not be sharpened or pointed 

 "while the wind is blowing;" "a graft should not be 

 used that is too full of sap, no, by Hercules! no more 

 than one that is dry and parched;" "it is a point most 

 religiously observed, to insert the graft during the 

 moon's increase." 



Herein are seen the beginnings of the grafting 

 practices of the present day, together with some prac- 

 tices of layering. Sharrock treated the whole subject of 



