288 



GRAFTING BY DETACHED SCIONS. 



or joint at its upper extremity ; to maintain the scion and the stock in the 

 proper position for growth, and in close contact, by a bandage of narrow 

 shreds of matting or cloth ; to exclude the air by a covering of clay or 

 grafting- wax ; and, in addition, when the graft is close to the surface of the 

 ground, by earthing it up with soil ; and w hen the scion is making its shoot, 

 to tie it to a prop if necessary ; to remove the clay or grafting- wax, when 

 the scion has made several leaves ; to remove the bandage by degrees, when 

 it appears to be no longer necessary ; and to cut off the heel on the upper 

 part of the stock at the proper time, so as that it may, if possible, be healed 

 over the same season. The modes of grafting detached scions adapted for 

 general use, are : splice or whip- grafting, cleft-grafting, rind-grafting, 

 saddle- grafting, side-grafting, root -grafting, and herbaceous grafting. 



651. Splice- grafting^ tongue-grafting, or whip-grafting, is the mode most 

 commonly adopted in all gardens where the stocks are not much larger in 

 diameter than the scion ; and it has the advantage of being more expedi- 

 tiously performed than any of the other modes described in this section. 

 The stock is first cut over at the height at which the scion is to be put on 

 (fig. 1UG ), and a thin slice of the bark and wood is then cut off with a 



Fig. 196 Splice-grafting in its different stages. 



very sharp knife, so as to leave a perfectly smooth, even surface (&) ; the 

 scion, which should at least have three buds, and need never have more than 

 five (the top one for a leading shoot, the next two for side shoots, in the case 

 of fruit-trees, and the lower two to aid in uniting the scion to the stock), 

 is next cut, so as to fit the prepared part of the stock as accurately as 

 possible, at least on one side; then a slit or tongue, as it is technically 

 termed, is made on the scion, and a corresponding one in the stock (c). 

 All being thus prepared, the scion is applied to the stock, inserting the 

 tongue of the one into the slit of the other (c) ; then the scion is tied 

 on with matting (d) ; and, lastly, it is clayed over (e) ; and some- 

 times, in addition, it is earthed up, or covered with moss, to serve as a 

 non-conductor of heat and moisture. In earthing up the graft, the loose 

 surface soil should be used at the grafting season, as being drier and 

 warmer than that which is less under the immediate influence of the sun. 

 When the scion is placed on the stock with the right hand, the ribbon of 

 bass by which it is tied, is brought round the graft from right to left ; but 

 when the scion is put on by the left hand, the bast is brought round from 

 left to right ; the object in both cases being to make sure of the exact coin- 

 cidence of the inner bark of one side of the scion, with the inner bark of 



