236 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



gle bud or a small portion of a shoot, and unite it to the stock, 

 with or without heading down the stock, and before separating 

 the branch-graft from the parent tree. 



This mode of grafting is used chiefly for woody flowering or 

 fruit-bearing green-house plants, as camelias, oranges, &c., 

 which, being in pots or boxes, can be readily adjusted for the 

 process, but may be used for all kinds of trees. 



It is performed by bringing together the stems of companion 

 trees, using a strain bar, if necessary, to control their position, 

 or arranging in contact the stem of the stock and the selected 

 branch-graft just at the point chosen, and uniting them by 

 tongue grafting, forming by their union an arch (en-arching 

 them), of which the graft tongues form the centre or key. See 

 Fig. 117, c and d. The process is not very difficult. Choose 

 your stock, and the branch or head you propose to transfer to 

 it of equal or nearly equal size, which may be from a quarter 

 to rather more than half an inch diameter. Trim them, or ei- 

 ther of them, as you may find needful, to permit their easy ap- 

 proach ; then cut from each, precisely at their point of contact, 

 a section or slice of equal length and size say about two inch- 

 es long reaching in depth to about one third their diameter, 

 the knife entering and coming out gradually in the very same 

 manner as in cutting a bud from the scion. See p. 220. If 

 either is larger than the other, the depth of cut must be pro- 

 portionably shallower, so that the barks on both their sides 

 may match with exactness. A rather stout tongue is then 

 cut upon each, passing the knife upward from about a quarter 

 or half an inch below the centre of the cut upon the graft- 

 branch, and downward from about a quarter or half an inch 

 above the centre of that upon the stock, making the tongue 

 upon each equal, and of sufficient length to permit the whole 

 to match. See Fig. 117 a. These must then be carefully and 

 rather firmly interlocked, care being taken to match the barks 

 together with precision throughout, lengthening the cut a lit- 

 tle upon either by entering the knife cautiously between them 

 if they do not correspond at the ends. Bind them very strong- 

 ly with bass strips or other ordinary bandages, and cover thick- 

 ly with grafting mortar or composition. 



